'No Doubt in Our Minds That She Is Gone'

By Bart Jones | STAFF WRITER

September 19, 2001

Karen Hagerty, victim of World Trade Center, missing. (Handout)

Karen Hagerty was so organized she lined up cans of cat food in her pantry in alphabetical order with the "beef" first, the "chicken" next, and so on. Cans and bottles in her refrigerator were lined up with similar precision in neat lines and labels facing outward.

That dedication to organization and detail helped propel her career as well, moving her up the ladder at the huge Aon Corp. insurance brokerage firm to become a senior vice president at the age of 34, her family said.

Hagerty, who grew up in Locust Valley, was on the 78th floor of Two World Trade Center when it was hit by a hijacked plane last week during the attack on the Twin Towers. Two colleagues who survived the tragedy have told Hagerty's family that she was killed when the airplane struck, said her stepfather, Linzee Whittaker.

"There is truly no doubt in our minds that she is gone," Whittaker said yesterday. "We are convinced she did not suffer. She never knew what hit her."

Hagerty and her co-workers were fleeing the building after the first plane hit Tower One, he said. A message came over the public announcement system saying there was no danger in Tower Two, and they could go back to work.

But they still wanted to leave and were sitting on a bench on the 78th floor, waiting for the elevator, when the second airplane hit, Whittaker said.

Her colleagues said Hagerty was unconscious and had no pulse after the attack, he said. The survivors climbed through the debris and carnage and escaped down the stairwells.

Hagerty's family has decided to accept that she died, even though her body has not been recovered, so they can proceed with the grieving process rather than remain in limbo, he said. "The uncertainty can just eat you alive."

The family plans a memorial service today at 11 a.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church in Lattingtown, followed by a reception at the Piping Rock Club in Locust Valley.

A special invited guest at the reception will be Hagerty's horse, Ricardo, a German warmblood that she adored, along with her two cats, Kitty and Buddy. She kept the horse at Rice Farm Stables in Brookville.

Hagerty spent her early years in Locust Valley, and, by age 12, went overseas with her mother, Lena, and her stepfather, an overseas country manager for another insurance company. Hagerty lived for four years in the Bahamas, and then attended Garrison Forest School, a boarding school for girls in Garrison, Md.

She went on to Randolph Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Va., where she graduated with a B.A. in political science.

She moved up the ladder quickly at Aon and ended up handling major accounts including AOL Time Warner and General Dynamics. She was living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Her relatives also include her father, William Hagerty, of Northport; a sister, Debra Hagerty, of Manhattan; a brother, James Hagerty, of Savannah, Ga.; and two stepsisters, Alden Whittaker, of Denver, and Ashley Whittaker, of Salt Lake City.

The family asks that donations be made to the Silver Lining Foundation, 1490 Ute Ave., Aspen, Colo. 81611. Hagerty was active with the charity, which gives expenses-paid, one-week camp vacations to children with cancer or other life-threatening diseases.