Brothers-in-Law At Cantor Fitzgerald

By Brian Donovan | STAFF WRITER

September 16, 2001

On the 105th floor of the World Trade Center, Stephen Tighe of Rockville Centre and Tim O'Brien of Old Brookville, who were brothers-in-law and fathers of young children, worked in securities trading and shared a passion for sports.

Tighe, 41, a broker, was planning a career change so he could spend more time doing what he loved most - coaching young soccer players. He had just begun a second job coaching the boys' junior varsity team at Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale. O'Brien, 40, was an avid golfer who traveled as far as Arizona to play on new courses.

They worked for Cantor Fitzgerald, a global securities company that suffered some of the heaviest losses of staff of all the companies affected by Tuesday's terrorist attack. There are about 700 Cantor Fitzgerald employees missing. The company had offices with spectacular views from the north tower's 101st, 103rd, 104th and 105th floors.

O'Brien headed a trading desk specializing in mortgage-backed securities. A graduate of Hartwick College in Oneonta, he was active in St. Mary's Church in Manhasset. Besides his enthusiasm for golf, "he played a lot of basketball and was a crazy Giants fan," said his wife, Lisa.

"He was a kind, generous guy with many friends," she said. He loved to spend time with his children - John, 6, Madeline, 5, and Jacie, 4 - in the back yard, she said, which has a putting green, swimming pool and tennis courts. "He loved to hang out back there with the kids and have people over."

A graduate of Adelphi University, Tighe played in soccer leagues in his teens and 20s and began coaching in 1987. "Soccer was his life - soccer and kids," said his wife, Kathy. "He was a laid-back, happy-go-lucky guy who just loved coaching."

Joe McCann, soccer coach at Kellenberg, had worked with Tighe, coaching younger boys. "For many years he was a very prominent figure in Rockville Centre soccer," McCann said. "He had a contagious passion for the game, and he was very patient with the boys, regardless of their skill level."

Hoping to change his career from finance to coaching, Tighe took a first step. He shortened his work hours at the securities firm so he could coach the Kellenberg team every afternoon. In his spare time he coached his son's teams, said Kathy Tighe, who is O'Brien's sister. Their children are Elizabeth, 13, Patrick, 11, Michael, 8, and Lindsay, 7 months.

On Thursday, the school's athletic director, Ed Dunn, had to tell the junior varsity team that its new coach was missing. "The looks on their faces and the tears - it was just devastating," he said.

"He had a great personality, the kind of guy you could talk to for five minutes and you felt like you'd known him a long time. I told him I'd made the change myself from the business world to teaching, and I think it helped him feel encouraged that you can follow your dreams."