10 September 2008

9/11 Tribute: W. David Bauer

Two years ago on September 11, I became part of Project 2,996, a blogging effort to honor each of the people killed on Sept. 11, 2001.

Thanks to Issa who re-posted her remembrance, I decided to do the same.

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The victims. We hear it over and over again about Sept. 11, 2001. The 2,996 victims.

The person that I am writing about, W. David Bauer, Jr., may have been a victim for one short moment of his life. But for the rest of his 45 years, he was clearly a winner. From what I have read about him, he was a player and a competitor, someone who took to the field of life with gusto and determination and who gave it all he had.

In the NY Times tribute article, it mentions that he competed in a triathlon on the weekend of Sept. 8-9, 2001 before coming home to watch his sons play football and the to grill steaks and to drink good red wine with his family and friends.

He also played football in college at Villanova. One of his friends from college said: "His nickname was "Superman" because he could catch the bullet passes of our starting quarterback, Brian Sikorski, with one hand, either hand!"

He also had a lifelong love of basketball and volleyball. His teammate Tom Dooley said "I knew David as a competitor on the basketball court when we were both well past our prime playing days...[He] was a gentleman of the highest caliber on and off the court."

In business, too, he competed and thrived. He climbed up through the ranks at Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse First Boston before becoming head of global sales for eSpeed, a division of Cantor Fitzgerald. He was one of 658 Cantor employees who died in the World Trade Center towers.

Mr. Bauer, who was 45 years old at the time of his death, was married to his wife Ginny and had three children, David, Steven and Jackie. He lived in Rumson, New Jersey.

So this is a man who lived, who really lived. He was someone who made good things happen for himself, his family and his friends. The type of hard-working, hard-playing family guy who is the backbone of our country and whom you would probably love as a neighbor.

My very best wishes to the Bauer family. I am sorry for your loss and I hope this tribute did Mr. Bauer justice.

Here is a link to the 2,996 project.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well said. Bravo.

Anonymous said...

what a wonderful tribute and a wonderful project to participate in. We think you're doing a really great thing. Those lost in 9/11 should never be forgotten.

Anonymous said...

Tributes like these make the people seem so real and rather then just " a number" or "a victim". It puts it all in perspective that they had families and played games and drank red wine...thank you.

Issa said...

Oh jesus, he worked for my cousin. My cousin who was late to work, because the nanny got sick and he needed to take his girls to school; my cousin who was on the subway from New Jersey, instead of at work.

I....yeah. I'm speechless.

Thank you for posting this. You did a wonderful job on this post. I will now always remember him.

Dave and Paula said...

Thank you! I am so proud of you Suebob! This is a wonderful thing for you to do. My heart goes out the families and friends of all those lost to us on 9/11.

mar said...

i can remember exactly where i was & what i was doing, wearing, etc.
can't forget everyone else who was there.
lovely tribute.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful tribute. I was in the 2996 project two years ago as well. I never even thought to re-post it.

Never forget.

Anonymous said...

Harsh because because I know David Bauer's sister, she is a teacher at Dalton Middle School and I'm a student at Dalton Middle School.
R.I.P W. David Bauer

Sincerely,
Raul Garcia

mommyknows said...

What a really nice thing to do. A well thought out tribute to a wonderful man.

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