Families mourn for dead, missing

One dozen Princeton area lives appear lost.

By: Jennifer Potash and Gwen Runkle
   Some families are still hoping for word of loved ones missing in the World Trade Center tragedy. Others have begun to say goodbye to family members who perished in the terrorist attack.
   As of Monday night, 5,422 were listed as missing, with more than 300 from New Jersey. Another 201 had been confirmed dead.
   Many lives were affected in the Packet coverage area of Princeton Borough, Princeton Township, Montgomery, Rocky Hill, West Windsor and Plainsboro by the Sept. 11 attack on the twin towers.
   A dozen local lives were apparently lost. The confirmed missing residents are Cathy Chirls, 47, of Princeton Borough; Kevin York, Frank Reisman and Andrew King, all 41 and all of Princeton Township; David Suarez, 24, Michael J. Cunningham, Edward R. Pykon and John Ryan, all of West Windsor; James Edward Potorti of Plainsboro; and M. Phillip Parker and Steven Goldstein of Montgomery. William F. Fallon Jr. of Rocky Hill is confirmed dead.
Cathy Chirls
   Formerly residents of Brooklyn Heights, Cathy and David Chirls were looking for a change of location and settled on Princeton a year ago.
   The couple and their three children, Nicholas, Sydney and Dylan, settled into the former home of President Grover Cleveland on Hodge Road.
   "We just woke up one day and decided to try something different in our lives," said Mr. Chirls, an architect with the Montgomery firm Andrew Sheldon Architects.
   Having spent a lot of time in Princeton with son Nicholas, a top-ranked squash player on the junior circuit, the family fell in love with the area, he said.
   Cathy, who had a distinguished career in business with positions at Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, had recently started a new position with eSpeed, a trading software subsidiary of Cantor Fitzgerald in the south tower of the World Trade Center.
   "She was an amazing person and had an unlimited amount of energy," Mr. Chirls said Monday. "She worked a 12-hour day and still had time for her family and children."
   The family has come to accept the unthinkable — that Ms. Chirls is dead.
   "We knew by Wednesday," Mr. Chirls said.
   Living in Princeton made Ms. Chirls and the whole family very happy, he said.
   "She loved just to hang out at the house," he said.
   Ms. Chirls enjoyed weekend trips to Terhune Orchards in Lawrence, where she "picked everything imaginable," he said.
   Barbara Blackwell of N.T. Callaway Real Estate helped the family select a home in Princeton and became friends with Ms. Chirls. Ms. Blackwell’s children occasionally baby-sat for Ms. Chirls’ younger children.
   "She made everyone around her happy," Ms. Blackwell said. "I’m glad she did have a good year (in Princeton)."
   An athletic woman, Ms. Chirls loved to ski and play squash, Mr. Chirls said.
Kevin York
   In the chaos after terrorists crashed a jet into the south tower of the World Trade Center, Kevin York got out of the building.
   But Mr. York, a senior vice president with Euro Brokers on the 84th floor, went back in, according to his family.
   When Mr. York’s family last spoke to him Tuesday, he said he was out of the building and was on his way home, said Linda Wager, Mr. York’s sister-in-law.
   In conversations last week with witnesses, Ms. Wager said, the family learned Mr. York returned to the tower.
   "(A witness) told us Kevin said he heard a person screaming for help and he was going back in," Ms. Wager said. "And that’s the last he saw of (Kevin)."
   He and wife Chiemi were high school sweethearts in Browns Mills, Ms. Wager said. They lived on Grasmere Way.
   A strong concern for others always punctuated Mr. York’s life, she said.
   While the two sisters’ father was stationed in Korea, Mr. York used to help around their house with chores and cutting wood for the fireplace, Ms. Wager said.
   "He’s like a brother to me," Ms. Wager said, her eyes welling with tears.
   Mr. York adored his two sons, Connor, 6, and Adian, 9 months.
   "He is very dear to my sister and the children," Ms. Wager said.
   Mr. York’s third "child" is an exuberant and excitable Wheaten terrier named Sandy, Ms. Wager said. Sandy has been waiting patiently by the front door each evening for his master’s return, she said.
   And the family retains hope, said Delores York, Mr. York’s stepmother.
   "We’ve called all the hospitals and they say there are no unidentified patients, but when we called the Police Department they said there are," she said. "We hope he’s in the hospital or wandering around out there with amnesia."
Frank Reisman
   Frank Reisman of Christopher Drive worked at Cantor Fitzgerald in the south tower and is one of the 700 employees of the firm still missing, his family confirmed Monday.
   Mr. Reisman was a coach of the Princeton Girls Softball team, said Tim Miller of Lawrence, another coach.
   "Frank changed many families’ lives with his humor and fun-loving disposition," Mr. Miller said. "Frank changed Princeton Girls Softball with his barrage of base-running (drills)."
   The team, which was formed five years ago when the girls on the team were 7, won the league championship two years in a row, Mr. Miller said. Mr. Reisman’s daughter is on the team, he said.
   A sociable man, Mr. Reisman always held the team’s end-of-season party at his home, Mr. Miller said. And last year, Mr. Reisman had the team picture put on a cake, he said.
   The team members were informed individually about Mr. Reisman but will soon gather as a group to talk about the tragedy, he said.
   "He’ll be deeply missed," Mr. Miller said.
James Edward Potorti
   James Edward Potorti, 52, of Plainsboro was working on the 96th floor of the north tower as an assistant vice president for the technology and information-services department of Marsh & McLennan Inc.
   "Tuesday morning was the last time I saw him," said his wife of almost 11 years, Nikki Stern. "He put a blanket on me because I wasn’t feeling well.
   "We loved it here in Plainsboro and Princeton. We would have been here 10 years next February," she said.
   Before coming to Plainsboro, the couple lived in New York and decided to move to Plainsboro because of a shared love of the outdoors.
   "We loved to bicycle together and we loved to kayak, really anything that was outside. We also loved to go to Barnes & Noble and hang out and read together," Ms. Stern said.
   Mr. Potorti was an excellent gardener, cook and carpenter, Ms. Stern said.
   "We don’t have much land, but he was brilliant at making it flower. Our roses are still blooming," she said.
   Ms. Stern said her husband grew up in Ithaca, N.Y. and went to college at the State University of New York, Oswego. He has two younger brothers.
   Ms. Stern said because of her background as a communications and public-relations specialist, it has been best for her to cope by finding out as much information as possible about the tragic event. In doing so, she said, she has come to terms with the likelihood that her husband has not survived.
David S. Suarez
   David S. Suarez, 24, of West Windsor was working at Deloitte & Touche, a financial consulting firm, on the 99th floor of one of the towers.
   "The last time we talked to him was the night before (Tuesday)," said his mother, Carol Suarez.
   "He had a big smile. He was full of life. He was a jogger, a runner, and was highly motivated. Anyone who described him would say he was full of life."
   Ms. Suarez said her son graduated from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School in 1995 and went on to graduate from Penn State University with high honors and a degree in industrial engineering in 1999.
   "He was a leader in all the things he did," Ms. Suarez said, adding that he was an Eagle Scout and did volunteer work once a month with New York Cares.
   "He was highly regarded in his company. He was planning to go back to graduate school and he still found time to volunteer," Ms. Suarez said.
   Ms. Suarez said she and the rest of the family — father Theodore, younger sister Kristen and older brother Bryan — miss him a lot.
   "It’s not just David, or David’s story," she said. "We are very cognizant of the fact that it’s everybody’s story, that we are not the only family in a lot of pain."
   There will be a memorial mass Saturday for Mr. Suarez at St. David the King Catholic Church in West Windsor.
Michael J. Cunningham
   Michael J. Cunningham, 39, of West Windsor was working as a broker for Euro Brokers on the 84th floor of the south tower.
   His daughter-in-law, Lisa, said the entire family including his wife, Teresa, and 2½-week-old son, William Laurence, still have hope for his safe return.
Edward R. Pykon
   Edward R. Pykon, 33, of Hawthorne Drive in West Windsor was confirmed missing by his wife, who declined further comment at this time.
Steven Goldstein
   Steven Goldstein, 35, of Burton Circle in Montgomerystarted his job with the bond trading firm Cantor Fitzgerald only a month ago, his wife said Monday. Before that, he worked at home.
   "I was used to him being home 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Jill Goldstein said.
   The man she knew for more than 30 years and the man she married five years ago was "an unbelievable father, an unbelievable husband."
   "He was an angel. He was my gift from God. He was my reward in life," Ms. Goldstein said.
   Their daughter, Hanna, 3, was told of her father’s presumed death Friday. Their son, Harris, turns 1 this coming Saturday.
   On Friday, a group of about 50 neighbors staged an impromptu candlelight vigil outside the Goldstein’s home on Burton Circle.
   "Steve didn’t think he had too many friends. I prayed that he could look down and see what was happening," Ms. Goldstein said.
   She described her husband as the kind of man who was always the one to give children horsey-rides.
   "He made all the children feel included," she said.
   She said Mr. Goldstein would have telephoned her if he could have.
   "Today, someone moved his car and found his cellphone on the seat," she said.
M. Phillip Parker
   M. Phillip Parker, 53, of Meadowbrook Lane in Montgomery was confirmed missing by township police, who said he worked on the 99th floor of the north tower. Police said he has a wife and child. His wife declined comment.
Information on Andrew King and John Ryan was published Friday. A separate story is being published today (Tuesday) on William F. Fallon Jr. Staff Writers Jeff Milgram and Steve Rauscher contributed to this story.