On Sept. 11, 2001, as the world watched the attacks on the World Trade Center unfold, Rev. Thomas O’Hara remembers poring over a list of King’s College alumni who could have been working in the towers that day.
“We had graduates working in both towers,” said O’Hara, then president of the Wilkes-Barre college.
Throughout the day, O'Hara and a group of alumni checked names off the list as they learned who “made it out.”
“At the end of the day and until the next morning, there were three that still were unaccounted for,” he said. “(Leonard) Snyder from Wilkes-Barre, Jim Walsh from New Jersey, and Ryan (Fitzgerald) from New York.”
Fitzgerald, who was working as a foreign currency trader, had been a student of O’Hara’s during his time at King’s. He’s been on O’Hara’s mind as the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approached.
The 1997 graduate’s remains were among a group of three people officially identified in August by the New York City Medical Examiner’s office.
“It struck me as perhaps some small measure of closure for his family, his parents,” O’Hara said. “Although it doesn't relieve the grief, it gives some piece of Ryan's life to them again.”
Identifying remains an ongoing process in New York
Closure is exactly what forensic anthropologist Dr. Jennifer Odien hopes for when remains are identified all these years later.
Odien is the lead World Trade Center anthropologist at the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office. As forensic biologists there process remains and test DNA, Odien works with victims’ families.
She said families are often surprised that her office is still testing remains more than two decades after the attacks.
“They might have resigned themselves into thinking that … we’re not going to get that call,” she said. “Others it’s a sense of relief, like they finally got that phone call.”
Advances in DNA testing technology have enabled the biologists to make more identifications, Odien said.
She said about 1,100 victims have still not been identified, so they will not be stopping the project any time soon.
“If we’re able to whittle that down, if we’re able to get more people identified through these newer techniques in DNA with family outreach, that’s our hope,” she said.
Fitzgerald ‘a very likable guy’ on Wilkes-Barre campus
O’Hara remembers Fitzgerald as someone who made an impact on campus during his time at King’s College. He taught Fitzgerald in political science in his freshman year, then again in his senior year.
“It amazed me that this bright, young, lovable kid became a leader. It was clear in my classes with him,” O’Hara said. “He had this … very welcoming personality. He was able to pull people together.”
Mark McLafferty of Ardmore, Pa. was Fitzgerald’s classmate and roommate during their time at King’s. He says everybody knew “Fitz” on campus.
“He kind of fit the mold for everyone to like,” McLafferty said. “He was just a very likable guy.”
Fitzgerald loved wing nights at Rodano’s and was involved in intramural sports teams during school. McLafferty said their group of friends all stayed in touch after college, especially their friends who lived closer to Fitzgerald in New York and Connecticut.
McLafferty remembers wondering about his friend and hoping for his safety 24 years ago.
Fitzgerald worked in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. When the North Tower was struck, McLafferty thought his friend might make it out.
But then a second plane struck the South Tower, and McLafferty and others tried to reach out and make sure Fitzgerald was all right.
“I remember an email chain going around with people saying, ‘yeah, I work there. I’m okay.’ A lot of us were concerned about Fitz,” he said. “Everyone kept keeping up hope that he might just show up somewhere and then the inevitable happened.”
Fitzgerald was 26. McLafferty felt as though his life was just beginning.
“We were all becoming grown-ups,” he said. “You just know that Ryan (Fitzgerald) ... he would have had a really good life. He would have been a great father. He was always looking out for people.”
'I still think of him like he’s still around'
While the identification of Fitzgerald’s remains brought his name back into the public eye, his name has always had a place at King’s College.
The college dedicated a set of three conference rooms in the Sheehy-Farmer campus center to Fitzgerald, Snyder and Walsh in the months following the attack.
O’Hara said the campus center was under renovation at the time, and after it was dedicated, an anonymous donor approached the school with the idea to name the conference rooms in honor of the three alumni.
“I blessed each one,” O’Hara said. “All three were wonderful King’s graduates. I did not have the privilege of knowing Jim Walsh or Lenny Snyder, but I knew Ryan Fitzgerald and I loved Ryan Fitzgerald for who he was — the biggest heart in the world.”
McLafferty could not attend the dedication ceremony, but he hopes his friend’s memorial at King’s has kept him alive on campus over the years.
“His memory is kept alive because of the type of person that he is. He’s the type of person that when they’re gone … the effect that he had on people, it’s like he’s still around,” McLafferty said. “He’s been gone 24 years now and I still think of him like he’s still around.”
O’Hara spoke with Fitzgerald’s parents at the dedication ceremony. He remembers Fitzgerald’s father joking about something missing from his son’s dedicated room.
“He said you should have a big lounge chair right in the middle of this room, because every time I came to visit my son at King’s, he was reclining on the lounge chair,” O’Hara said. “It was such a lovable comment to make in the midst of a somber moment.”
Since its dedication, the Ryan Fitzgerald room has hosted conferences, classes, parties and other gatherings. O’Hara has always felt that Fitzgerald would appreciate a gathering space in his name.
“Ryan's probably smiling every time he sees an event in his place, because just like he gathered people as a student, his memory is still gathering people to his room,” O’Hara said.
