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The following tribute was originally published at http://amomandherblog.com/paul-vincent-barbaro/ but the website or link is now defunct. I am reproducing it here so that the thoughts expressed are not lost:

[Start of Original Article]:

I became involved in the 2996 project because I wanted a chance to do something different this year…a chance to celebrate a life lost, rather than sitting here crying. Of course, I’ll still sit here and cry…I do every September 11th. But I’ll also be honoring a specific person…and reading about everyone else.

Paul Vincent Barbaro was born on May 27th, 1966, to Carol and Nicholas Barbaro. He was born in Concord and lived there until moving to Dongan Hills when he was a teenager. He graduated from St Peter’s High School in 1984, then attended the College of Staten Island, graduating with a degree in computer science in 1988. After a year at Goldman Sachs in Manhatten, he moved on to Columbia University, earning a master’s degree in computer science in 1991.

Paul met his wife, Kim, when he was a teenager, they dated for 7 years before getting married in 1992. At the time of his death, he had two young sons, Paul,5, and Joseph, 2. From all accounts, he was a doting daddy, and his children adored him. He was excited about the future, and loved the little things…birthdays, his home, and holidays with his family. He enjoyed taking his family on vacation whenever he had a few days off. He and his wife had just bought a new home in Holmdel, New Jersey, and had only been in it for a month.

Paul was a strategic development software engineer for eSpeed, the elctronic trading platform of Cantor Fitzgerald. His office was on the 103rd floor of Tower One. He had only worked there for ten months. He was, friends say, considered one of the industry’s premier programmers. He’s been described as a perfectionist, and it appears that this came out on the job, as well as in his family life. He sounds to me alot like my own husband, and I wish I could have had the honor of knowing him.

I’d like to end this post with a tribute written by his wife, Kim. She can say it far better than me.

Born and raised in Staten Island, New York, Paul and I dated for seven years before marrying in Nov.1992. Our first son, Paul, was born in May 1996 and Joseph was born in Jan. 1999. We moved to Holmdel, New Jersey in August of 2001.

Paul graduated from St. Peter’s Boys High School and the College of Staten Island where he received a BS degree and later received a Master’s degree from Columbia University, both in computer science. He was extremely talented and his passion for his career enabled him to work on a number of high profile projects for many firms, the last being Optimark Technologies before joining eSpeed in Dec. 2000.

Paul was a beautiful man who always had a happy outlook on life, a man who was strong in both character and stature. He was a wonderful, loving husband, incredible father and my best friend. His talents were endless and he was successful in all his pursuits. Paul and Joseph will be overwhelmed with pride, as I am, when they think of him. He was a natural teacher. Most importantly, Paul had his priorities straight. He had a strong faith and looked forward to coming home and spending time with his family every day. Paul and Joseph will stand tall when they think of him: intelligent, strong and compassionate. To think of all his good qualities and the guidance his family will miss makes his absence immense. Paul and Joseph will be in awe of their Dad, as he will be of them. Nothing can ever change what we have been and will always be to each other.

Love Always,
Your Wife, Kim

Posted by Bernie at 07:39 PM | Permalink

The following tribute was originally published at http://123beta.blogspot.com/2006/09/in-memory-of-christopher-m-colastani.html but the website or link is now defunct. I am reproducing it here so that the thoughts expressed are not lost:

[Start of Original Article]:

In Memory of Christopher M. Colastani

I remember sitting at my desk the morning of September 11, 2001. It was such a nice day. Clear autumn skies, the sun shining brightly through the windows. I had been at work for about a half an hour when the customer calls suddenly stopped. Not a single call coming in. Me and my co-workers were perplexed. Sure, there had been 'pockets' of one or two minutes here and there when the calls were idle. But now it had been nearly five minutes. It was truly weird to sit in a room with some 50 other people and not one of them was on the phone (I worked for one of the Baby Bells).

Against company policy I checked the internet. What I found was more horrifying than I could have imagined.

Why on earth would someone fly a plane into the World Trade Center? Was it an accident? Surely it was I thought.

The motive and/or cause had not yet been determined.

Sometime after 9AM I called my friend John that lives in Greenwich Village. He worked just a couple of blocks from the World Trade Center. His place of employment had sent everyone home. Sadly, John told me he saw people jumping from the towers in a desperate attempt to survive.

I wished him well, went to the restroom and got sick...

Christopher grew up in South Orange, N.J. and met Kelly, his wife, in high school. They went to the prom together. He graduated from Dartmouth and became a trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. The young family lived in Hoboken. The night before the attack, Mr. Colasanti gave their girls, Cara and Lauren, their baths as he did every night. Then he showed Cara his baseball card collection.

"We'll be a strong family, the three of us," Kelly said.
"We have to live this way because he was so great. We can't let it not be great here because it was so great."

Christopher loved playing golf, even though he was lousy at it. He rooted for sports teams that were mostly terrible, like the Nets and Jets, just so he could pull for an underdog.

Chris Colansanti
He gave himself the tongue-in-cheek nickname "The Dominant Force" -- or "Dom" for short -- in the seventh grade, and it stuck with him into adulthood because it was so contrary to everything he was.

On Sept. 11, 2001 Christopher kissed his wife, Kelly, and children, Cara, 4, and Lauren, 1, before catching an early train to arrive by 7:30 a.m. at work as a bond trader on the 105th floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower.

His plan was to get to work early so he could return home early to his family in Hoboken...

Christopher was also at the World Trade Center in 1993 when a truck bomb exploded, killing six people.

God bless Christopher Colasanti and his family. God bless all that lost their lives that day.

Never forget. Ever.

Posted by Bernie at 06:55 PM | Permalink