The Last-Minute Decisions That Saved Lives on 9/11

On September 11, 2001, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, altering the course of American history. American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 struck the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan, and both buildings collapsed within two hours. American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, while United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into an open field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers mounted a counter-offensive.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed, including employees of numerous Lower Manhattan financial firms. The attacks prompted two foreign wars, a sweeping restructuring of aviation safety, and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in November 2002.

A quarter of a century later, September 11 is also remembered through the personal scheduling anomalies that spared some lives: medical appointments, oversleeping, delayed interviews, errands, and last-minute venue changes. Over the last 25 years, those narrow escapes have remained personal memories while shaping the corporate recovery, philanthropic work, and public service careers of figures including current U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, real estate developer Larry Silverstein, and former Senator Mitt Romney.

Cantor Fitzgerald occupied floors 101 through 105 of the North Tower, placing much of its workforce above the impact zone. Its chief executive officer, Howard Lutnick, was usually at his desk by 6:00 a.m., but his wife, Allison, had asked him to take their son, Kyle, to his first day of kindergarten that morning.

Lutnick spent the morning trying to reach the office by telephone without knowing that his brother, Gary Lutnick, was trapped inside. Gary and 657 other Cantor Fitzgerald employees died, representing nearly two-thirds of the firm’s New York workforce. Lutnick later devoted much of his professional life to rebuilding the company before entering public service and eventually becoming U.S. Commerce Secretary.

He established the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, committed 25 percent of the company’s profits for five years, and provided ten years of healthcare coverage to the families of deceased employees. The fund ultimately distributed more than $180 million.

At Sandler O’Neill & Partners, a boutique investment bank on the 104th floor of the South Tower, co-founder Jimmy Dunne was 50 miles north of Manhattan trying to qualify for a mid-amateur golf tournament. The attack killed 66 of the firm’s 171 employees, including Dunne’s close friend and co-founder, Herman Sandler, and head of investment banking Christopher Quackenbush.

Dunne assumed control after the near-total destruction of the firm’s leadership team and guided its survival and recovery. For the past 25 years, he has marked his golf balls with a “Q” in honor of Quackenbush. Sandler O’Neill remained independent on Wall Street for nearly two decades before merging with Piper Jaffray in 2020 to become Piper Sandler.

Larry Silverstein had finalized a historic 99-year, $3.2 billion lease on the World Trade Center property only weeks earlier, in July 2001. He also maintained a routine of daily breakfast meetings with tenants at Windows on the World, the restaurant on the 106th floor of the North Tower.

His wife, Klara, insisted that he keep a scheduled appointment with his dermatologist on September 11. His children, Roger and Lisa, who both worked for Silverstein Properties, were also running late to a meeting at the site. Silverstein’s longtime aide, Geoffrey Wharton, finished an early meeting at the restaurant and took an elevator down at 8:44 a.m., two minutes before Flight 11 hit the building. No one who remained in the restaurant survived.

The executive chef of Windows on the World, Michael Lomonaco, had entered the World Trade Center concourse that morning when he stopped at a local optics shop to have his eyeglasses adjusted. He was still in the concourse when the first plane struck. More than 30 members of his kitchen and service staff were killed.

Lomonaco co-founded the Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund, which raised nearly $25 million for financial aid, healthcare, and educational support for the families of hospitality and food service workers killed in the World Trade Center.

Silverstein spent decades directing the architectural and legal efforts to rebuild the 16-acre World Trade Center site. A prolonged dispute with insurers over whether the strikes constituted one occurrence or two ended in a $4.55 billion settlement. Silverstein Properties then oversaw the construction of 7 World Trade Center, 4 World Trade Center, and 3 World Trade Center, as well as the rebuilding of the wider complex in partnership with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Aon Corporation, the global insurance brokerage, lost 176 employees. Its managing director Jim Pierce, a cousin of then-President George W. Bush, had scheduled a large business meeting on one of the South Tower’s upper floors.

The confirmed attendance exceeded the capacity of the planned conference room, so Pierce moved the meeting to a nearby office building at 125 Broad Street. Twelve participants did not receive the change in time, and 11 later died when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower. From the relocated meeting room, Pierce watched the second plane hit the tower and saw the chaos and casualties below.

The day’s security emergency also affected preparations for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Mitt Romney, then president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, had planned a high-profile September 11 press conference in Lower Manhattan to unveil the Olympic torchbearers at Battery Park, directly beside the World Trade Center complex.

An ongoing congressional dispute over federal security appropriations for the Games kept Romney in Washington, D.C., for legislative meetings. The press conference was canceled, leaving the organizing committee’s staff away from the disaster zone. Five months later, the Salt Lake City Games became the first major global gathering to use the newly federalized, highly militarized security protocols that would define post-9/11 public events in the United States.

Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, ran her promotional and charitable organization, Chances for Children, from offices on the North Tower’s 101st floor. She was scheduled to be there that morning but was delayed because an interview with NBC television host Matt Lauer in Midtown Manhattan lasted longer than expected.

Although her office was destroyed, the charity’s mascot, a rag doll named “Little Red,” was recovered intact from the World Trade Center wreckage weeks later. It was donated to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, where it remains on display.

Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane had both been booked on American Airlines Flight 11, which left Boston’s Logan International Airport for Los Angeles. Wahlberg changed his plans a week before departure and instead chartered a plane to the Toronto International Film Festival.

Wahlberg later faced public scrutiny after telling *Men’s Journal* that he could have overpowered the hijackers if he had been aboard. He issued a public apology for the remark.

MacFarlane, creator of *Family Guy*, missed the same flight by only minutes. His travel agent had mistakenly recorded an 8:15 a.m. departure instead of the actual 7:59 a.m. departure. MacFarlane reached the gate shortly after boarding had closed and watched from the terminal lounge as the aircraft departed on its fatal flight.