Service will honor World Trade Center victim

Joseph M. Giaccone, 43, a vice president with Cantor Fitzgerald, was working on the 103rd floor of Tower No. 1 when the tower was hit by a terrorist-guided airplane.

By: Al Wicklund
   MONROE — Family and friends are gathering to remember a lost friend.
   A memorial Mass for Joseph M. Giaccone of Danya Drive, a victim of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack, will be held 1 p.m. today (Friday) at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, 18 South St., Spotswood.
   The Rev. Harold B. Hirsch will conduct the memorial service Mass.
   Mr. Giaccone, 43, a vice president with Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial trading firm, was working in his office on the 103rd floor of the center’s Tower No. 1 when it was hit by a terrorist-guided airplane. Mr. Giaccone is listed as missing and presumed dead.
   Sondra Giaccone, his wife, said Wednesday she and her children, daughter, Alex, 14, and son, Max, 10, have been talking to try to help each other come to terms with their situation.
   Ms. Giaccone was the last to speak to her husband, having had a phone conversation with him some 30 to 45 minutes before the tragedy.
   Ms. Giaccone said she and husband usually called each other several times during the course of a day.
   The Giaccones lived for 12 years in a home in Beaver Brook Run in Jamesburg, moving to their new home on Danya Drive in Monroe Township’s Ridgewood Estates in February, the same month in which they celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary.
   Mr. Giaccone was a top officer in one of the leading financial trading firms, according to his brother-in-law, Keith Seiden.
   Mr. Seiden, who worked with Mr. Giaccone at one time, said his brother-in-law was a rare person.
   "In a tough, competitive field, he was appreciated by those who worked for him because of his quiet patience and understanding. He worked hard. And, he wasn’t a self-promoter, a quality you don’t find in many company vice presidents," Mr. Seiden said.
   A fund in remembrance of Mr. Giaccone is being established for his children. Persons wishing to contribute to the fund should send checks to: The Joseph Giaccone Children Memorial Fund, Post Office Box 6500, Monroe Township, N.J. 08831.