John Adams wrote these words in a letter to his wife, Abigail --- 1774
From our friend, David McCullough’s, new book JOHN ADAMS
We are at war and in a global recession at the same time.
There are so many things to say, but so difficult to put them into words.
Our friends at Fiduciary Trust Company International lost ninety of their colleagues in the September
11th maniacal bombing and destruction of their five floors in Two World Trade Center, the south tower. They and the State of New
York were the Trade Centers’ first occupants. The State of New York’s offices had been in One World Trade Center, the north tower,
and most, if not all of the state’s offices were moved from the Trade Center a number of years ago.
The Fiduciary Trust Company of New York, now Fiduciary Trust Company International, originally leased
four floors (94, 95, 96 & 97), and in recent years the bank also leased the 90th floor. Their vault took up about half of the 97th
floor’s 44,000 square feet, almost half an acre. It was installed after the tower was reinforced forty floors down in order to
support its weight. The vault’s door alone weighed between nine and ten tons. It was approximately the size of three city buses.
The enclosed article is from the October 15th issue of Forbes magazine. It describes in part how
Fiduciary was operating on Wednesday, September 12th, the day after the attack, from its emergency center in New Jersey.
The emergency center was originally built to keep the bank running in the event of a massive power
failure in New York City, which happened on two occasions. But the only time I recall its being used was in 1993 after Muslim
terrorists tried to blow up the Trade Center by driving a truckload of dynamite into the garage under the south tower and detonating
it. Fiduciary’s personnel were operating the next day from their emergency center in New Jersey.
We went to a Memorial Service for a dear friend and brilliant young man who left a wife and two little
daughters. His wife gave birth to their third daughter several weeks after the Service.
As a result of Fiduciary’s planning and emergency backup offices in New Jersey that were staffed by
remarkable people, all clients’ assets were 100% secure. On October 22nd Fiduciary Trust Company International moved to new offices
near Rockefeller Center at 600 Fifth Avenue, NYC 10020.
Please join us in saluting and thanking our good friends who have done literally incredible work for
their friends and clients after suffering unimaginable personal losses.
Thank you.
John, W. Hamilton
October 26, 2001
JWH: mm
jwh@hamiltonadvisors.com
