He Counted His Blessings

Robert Fresco

September 20, 2001

Hannah Kates is 5 years old and she is trying very hard to find something positive to believe in, knowing that her father was killed in the World Trade Center attack.

Her mother says Hannah looked at her 1-year-old brother the other day and concluded: "'Mom, we're really lucky, because Henry is going to grow up to be just like Dad.'"

Andrew Kates, 37, a senior managing director at the Cantor Fitzgerald brokerage firm, was sitting at his desk in Tower One when the first hijacked plane hit the building. His wife was in their Manhattan apartment.

"I got a call from him. He just said, 'A plane hit the building. It's on fire. I love you very much.'"

Kates has been confirmed dead by the New York medical examiner's office.

Emily Terry said her husband "was very athletic. He was a serious bike rider and swimmer and played tennis. He ran the New York Marathon in 3 hours and 15 minutes."

But his wife said his family came first. "Every Saturday morning, the kids would all come into bed with us," she said, "and we said, 'We have a lovely family.' We knew we had an incredible thing going."

In addition to his wife, his daughter Hannah and son, Henry, Kates is survived by another daughter, Lucy, 3, two brothers, Seth, of Worcester, Mass., and Paul, of Hoboken, N.J., and by his mother, Judy Kates, of Wyncote, Pa.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, 7 W. 83rd St., Manhattan.