Twenty-five years ago, the world changed in a matter of minutes. The images are familiar, yet there are still no words to properly describe them. Thousands of people were killed in the 9/11 terror attacks.
Like in so many places across America, Sept. 11 is personal here in Western New York. Among the victims were people who grew up here, went to school here, built their lives here and remained part of the fabric of communities across the region.
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As the country marks 25 years since the tragedy, 7 News pays tribute to those we lost.
LEONARD CASTRIANNO
Leonard Castrianno grew up in Williamsville and graduated from Williamsville East High School. He worked for the financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald at its headquarters in the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Castrianno became trapped on the 105th floor after the tower was struck. He was 30 years old when he died.
Twenty-five years later, his nephew Anthony Macadlo remembers Leonard not for the tragedy, but for the happiness he brought to his family.
“The best memories I have of Uncle Leonard are, you know, when we were just playing around in the pool, we were playing jokes with the family,” Macadlo recalled.
MELISSA VINCENT
Melissa Vincent was a Le Roy native and a graduate of Notre Dame High School in Batavia. She worked for Alliance Consulting Group in the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Vincent called 911 shortly after the tower was hit. She was 29 years old.
Friends remembered Vincent as a young woman living out her dream in New York City.
In 2021, Notre Dame's assistant principal, Michael Rapone, described Vincent to the Livingston Daily News as upbeat.
"Friendly and outgoing, she was pretty popular among her classmates," Rapone said. "Very involved in school, a lot of clubs.”
MARGARET WALIER SEELIGER
Margaret Walier Seeliger was a Hamburg native and a graduate of Frontier Central High School. She worked as an insurance executive and was in the South Tower when the attacks began.
Seeliger gave up her place on a crowded elevator, insisting that her co-workers go first. She was 34.
Her family has continued to honor her memory and the courage she showed that morning. Twenty-five years later, Margaret's story remains one of sacrifice and selflessness.
SEAN ROONEY
Sean Rooney was a Buffalo native and graduate of Canisius High School. He worked for Aon in the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Rooney was trapped on the 105th floor. In the moments before his death, he spoke by phone with his wife, Beverly Eckert.
The couple discussed their life together and the happiness they had shared.
After Sept. 11, Eckert became a fierce advocate for 9/11 families and worked for years to ensure the victims and their families were remembered. In 2009, Eckert herself died in the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Clarence.
RENEE MAY
Renée May was a Lackawanna native and a flight attendant for American Airlines.
She joined the company in 1986 after earning a degree from San Diego State University.
"She had beautiful blue eyes. She was just so alive," her fiancé David Spivock said. "She was the nicest person I ever met."
May was working aboard American Airlines Flight 77 on Sept. 11. The plane was hijacked and ultimately crashed into the Pentagon.
May was 39 years old.
AMY KING
Amy King grew up in Celoron in Chautauqua County and graduated from Southwestern Central School.
King was a flight attendant aboard United Airlines Flight 175, which was hijacked and flown into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
She was working the flight with her boyfriend, Michael Tarrou.
King was 29 years old.
OTHER WESTERN NEW YORK CONNECTIONS
Eleven graduates of the University at Buffalo were also among those who died. The university remembers them with a memorial on campus.
And three alumni of St. Bonaventure University lost their lives that day.
ROBERT PERAZA
Robert “Bob” Peraza was a St. Bonaventure University graduate who played rugby for the school. He later worked for Cantor Fitzgerald at the World Trade Center.
Peraza was 38 when he died in the North Tower.
His love of rugby remains part of his legacy at St. Bonaventure. A memorial scholarship bearing his name supports student-athletes who play the sport he loved.
AMY O'DOHERTY
Amy O'Doherty graduated from St. Bonaventure just one year before the attacks.
Her career had only begun when she went to work in New York City for Cantor Fitzgerald as a broker's assistant.
"She was soaking up that great New York style," her mother Geraldine Davie said in an obituary. "Picking up that New York language. She didn't know it but she was living her bliss."
O'Doherty was 23 years old when she died in the North Tower.
FATHER MYCHAL JUDGE
Father Mychal Judge was a legend in New York City — a Franciscan friar who served as chaplain of the New York City Fire Department.
He graduated from St. Bonaventure in 1957.
On Sept. 11, Father Mychal went toward Ground Zero to be with the firefighters he had spent years serving. He was killed inside the World Trade Center and became the first official fatality recorded from the attacks.
THE LOSS DID NOT END ON 9/11
The death toll from Sept. 11 did not end with the collapse of the towers, the attack on the Pentagon or the crash of Flight 93.
In the 25 years since the attacks, more than 9,000 people have died from 9/11-related illnesses, including first responders and others who worked at or around Ground Zero in the aftermath.
That includes people from Western New York who answered the call to help.
One of the most recent is DEC Police Officer Ronald Bosela, who was assigned to the North Tower area of Ground Zero immediately following the attacks. He died earlier this year at the age of 78 from a 9/11-related illness.
Today, more than 145,000 people are being treated or monitored for health conditions connected to the response and recovery after September 11.
