Victims: a Portrait of America

This story was reported by Richard J. Dalton Jr., Brian Donovan, Robert Fresco, Eden Laikin, Joseph Mallia, Jo Craven McGinty, Liz Moore and Sandra Peddie

September 12, 2001

Hundreds of New York City firefighters and police officers were believed dead following the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, including the confirmed deaths of several high-ranking officers, a chaplain and a nationally known chief of rescue operations that led a team of New York firefighters to Oklahoma City in 1995 in the aftermath of the bombing of a federal building.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced the deaths of the firefighters at a news conference last night, saying he recently held a party to honor Ray Downey, chief of special operations command, who was in charge of the Oklahoma contingent. Also killed were First Deputy Commissioner William Feehan and Peter Ganci, chief of the department.

Awarded the moniker "God" by fellow firefighters who revered him for his lifesaving skills, Downey directed the emergency efforts after the bombings in Oklahoma City, and at the World Trade Center in 1993, as well as after hurricanes in the Dominican Republic and elsewhere. He was at the scene yesterday, as usual, when the towers collapsed.

"We really don't know," said his distraught daughter Kathy Ugalde, who had gathered in a vigil at her parents' home with 30 friends and family, clinging to prayers he might yet be recovered from the rubble. Downey's sons Joseph and Charles, also city firefighters, were on the job last night hoping they might help find him.

Ugalde said Charles Downey, a lieutenant, had spoken with a firefighter who had been talking with Downey when the first tower collapsed and seen him survive it.

"Then the second building went down, and the guy said he saw my father running, and that's the last thing they knew," Ugalde said. "My brother [Charles] called and said, 'We're going to get him Mom, we're going to get him, we know where he is,'" Kathy Ugalde said. But unstable buildings in the area have stalled rescue efforts. "They're dying to get in there and find him," she said.

Just last month, Downey was honored by Giuliani at Gracie Mansion with a dinner for 100 and presented with a crystal apple in recognition of his contributions to the city.

Downey's other son Joseph found out about his father's nickname after joining the department, when fellow firefighters kept teasingly calling him 'Jesus.'

"It's ironic, he's an expert in collapses and now he's in one," Ugalde said. "I just feel like my dad saved so many people this way, I just want someone to save him. I just think he deserves it."

Feehan, 72, of Flushing, was commissioner of the department under former Mayor David Dinkins and stayed on as first deputy commissioner under Giuliani. His wife, Elizabeth, whom he met when they were students at St. John's university, died in 1996. Feehan often was called on to conduct the department's press conferences. "He was very learned and very well-respected," said James Boyle, former president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association. "His whole life was the department."

Ganci, 54, of North Massapequa, worked his way up the department ranks during his 32-year career and was promoted in 1999 to chief of department, the highest-ranking uniformed position. "He was a very good guy, a good golfer and a good friend," Boyle said. "He enjoyed the job, a joke and a good cigar. The men respected him." Both Ganci and Feehan had sons who became New York City firefighters.

Among others killed in the attacks was the Rev. Mychal Judge, 68, chaplain of the New York City Fire Department, a widely known Franciscan friar whose busy schedule sometimes included a White House ceremony one day and ministering to impoverished AIDS patients the next. The child of Irish immigrants who ran a rooming house, Judge became a shoeshine boy on the streets of Manhattan after his father died when he was 6.

One of his stops was St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church on West 31st Street. "I don't know why but I always liked going to church," he told a Newsday interviewer in 1991. "I just felt good being there." A priest at St. Francis, Father Teddy, became a mentor. "Watching him, I realized that I didn't care for material things all that much," Judge said.

He entered the Franciscan seminary at 14, beginning a religious career that involved him in efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland, conducting Masses for players at Yankee Stadium and White House visits during the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush, Clinton and Kennedy. He lived in a small monastery room, slept on a cheap sofa bed and wore the baggy brown medieval habit of a Franciscan monk.

He was particularly known for his work with AIDS patients. "His death consecrated what his life had built," said Brother Denis Clark of St. Francis, who saw Judge for the last time at morning prayers yesterday. "He was always dedicated to others and available to anyone who needed him."

Last year, on a beach in Shirley, Judge spoke to mourners at a memorial service for victims of the TWA Flight 800 crash, telling the crowd that their spirits lived on. "Have your memories and hold tight to your tears," he said. "Open your hearts, and let their spirit and life keep you going."

Confirmed victims of the devastating attacks in New York and Washington also ranged from corporate executives and high-profile media personalities, to the pilots who flew the ill-fated planes. Also among the dead were:

Daniel C. Lewin, 31, chief technology officer and board member of Akamai Technologies Inc. He was aboard the Los Angeles-bound flight that crashed into One World Trade Center, the Cambridge-based Internet company said. The Denver native, who was raised in Jerusalem, is survived by his wife and two sons.

Lewin, who co-founded the company three years ago, served in Israel's defense forces for more than four years, according to Akamai's Web site. He was seeking his doctorate degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Daniel was a wonderful person, really well-liked," said Rudi Seitz, a former fellow student. "He was very likable and incredibly smart."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Danny's family, friends and colleagues during this time of national tragedy and personal loss," George H. Conrades, chairman and chief executive of Akamai said in a press release.