25th anniversary of September 11

Professional Actuarial Topics Property/Casualty
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September 11 is the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks against the United States in 2001. Four planes were hijacked. Two flew into the World Trade Center in New York City, a third crashed into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed, including firefighters and police.

To children and teenagers, 2001 was before you were born, and to young adults perhaps you were too young to remember this. For many of us, we will always remember exactly where we were when this horrific event occurred. (This is true of President Kennedy’s assassination too.)

I was in my office working across the street from the World Trade Center on September 11. We heard the first crash at 8:46 a.m., but we had no idea what it was. We were told to evacuate our building, but we were not told why. This was before cell phones, and we had no information on the street. I stood half a block away, and watched and heard events unfold, not all of which were adequately captured on television.

As we remember the thousands of people who died on September 11, 2001,
the P&C actuarial community particularly remembers:

Phillip D. Miller, FCAS. Phillip D. Miller Obituary Sep 11, 2001 - Legacy.com
Mike Lomax, FIA. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/search?query=Michael+Lomax
Howard Kestenbaum, Ph.D. Howard Kestenbaum Obituary Sep 11, 2001 - Legacy.com

There is also at least one CAS member who lost a son that day, but I believe that CAS member prefers to remain private.

If you know someone who was personally affected by September 11, you might ask them if they want to share their experience, although some people may choose not to do so.

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Very good story in the latest edition of the Actuarial Review that includes a bit about Phillip Miller, as well as some recollections from folks attending the CLRS in New Orleans.

Twenty-Five Years After 9/11: A Lasting Insurance Legacy

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Which is the opposite of what they were told in the South Tower (until they themselves got hit).

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Attendee Richard Carris, then a claims expert for Ernst & Young, was at the seminar to talk about the new way the National Association of Insurance Commissioners wanted claim expenses to be classified — DCC and A&O replacing ALAE and ULAE

Wow! That was 25 years ago.

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I was listening to NPR on my way into downtown St. Paul when the news came on. Little work got done that morning although I remember feeling safe being in the midwest. At lunchtime we left for the day getting pizza and going to a co-workers apartment to hang out and watch the news, no point in trying to get anything done.

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One of my clients in the 1990s was The American Bureau of Shipping which had its headquarters on the 105th floor of One World Trade Centre. I visited their office often and we always had lunch at the Windows on the World restaurant one floor above them.

I always felt uneasy about dining there as I am uncomfortable with heights and you could see planes flying lower than you. I was therefore happy when they decided to move their HQ to Houston in 1998. Some other admin staff were relocated to a lower floor in One World Trade Centre.

It was a fortuitous corporate decision as none of their employees there would have survived 911. Sadly, the Cantor Fitzgerald employees there perished. The ABS staff who had been relocated to a floor below the plane impact floor all survived.

I remember their luck on 911 but also remember my 358 Marsh colleagues who perished that day.

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At the time, my Chief Actuary’s mother lost her life in the 9/11 attack. She was in the North Tower.

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It happened when I was in high school, and I didn’t know anyone personally who died. But two of my employers, Aon and Marsh, were affected significantly, so I’ve known a lot of people in my working career who lost a lot of their friends and colleagues.

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in the central time zone, it started as i was waking. saw the 2nd plane hit. went to work after and well, that day was memorable for sure.

i had met two people IRL who died that day. One was Phil Miller, who had worked at the same company as me before joining Aon. (i was entry level, he was experienced) Other was a guy from college who I heard was just on site for a job interview somewhere.

I work at Marsh now and the messages every year are both impressive and somber (and understandably so).

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