Sean Egan W18
It’s often said that heroes are those who run toward danger while everyone else is running away from it. That was Sean Egan W18’s dad. After a recent promotion to captain, Martin J. Egan Jr. was assigned to a desk at the New York Fire Department headquarters in Brooklyn on the morning of September 11, 2001. Sean doesn’t know how his dad got to the World Trade Center — all he knows is that when he did get there, he borrowed equipment from a nearby firehouse, went up the North Tower, and never made it out.
“He and many other firefighters, no matter where they were, when they heard about the planes crashing into the towers, they tried to get to the site as quickly as they could to help,” says Egan, who was five years old at the time. “Those stories are really important, and we need to keep them in mind. Whether it was a police officer or a firefighter or someone working in a company, they helped out and put others first. Many of the victims of 9/11 are heroes because they did just that.”
Egan (left) with his dad, FDNY captain Martin J. Egan Jr., and sister Kerry. (Images courtesy of Sean Egan)
Egan got involved with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, which opened in 2014 where the towers once stood, to keep the memory of his father alive. In 2020 he became a founding member of the museum’s Visionary Network, which he describes as a bridge between young professionals who have a direct memory of that day and the next generation, which will learn about it through others. As part of this effort, the organization is working to add 9/11 to the curricula of schools around the country. (Surprisingly, Egan says, only 14 states currently require it to be taught.)
Sean Egan
“The challenge is making sure that history remains human, remains relevant and connected,” says Egan, who now lives in Manhattan and works as a vice president at InterVest Capital Partners. While in high school on Staten Island, he launched Hearing Our Heroes, which gave students a chance to meet local veterans and learn from their stories. It was Egan’s way of saying “thank you” to the armed forces. Today he works with diplomats and international leaders, particularly around the United Nations General Assembly later this month, to help introduce new audiences to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and advance its global mission.
Every year, the museum commemorates 9/11 by reading the names of victims. The crowd will be bigger for this anniversary, Egan predicts, but the tradition will remain the same. He still has fond memories of visiting his father at the firehouse for Christmas parties and climbing on top of the trucks. He describes his dad as “someone who was always around, who loved his family” — one that’s expanding, as Egan and his wife, Cate Egan W18, are expecting their first child.
Hilary Kramer WG91
New York City police lieutenant Timothy Edward Coyne was a first responder, but he was also one of the last: Long after the dust settled, he was still pulling victims from the rubble and working on “the pile,” as the Ground Zero wreckage was known. Coyne’s widow, Hilary Kramer WG91, describes the years that followed as weighing heavily on him, both mentally and physically. Since Coyne passed away in August 2021 of health complications related to 9/11, Kramer has been bringing awareness to the lingering — and often invisible — effects of the attacks.
“He certainly had PTSD,” says Kramer. “That’s what made him love his family so much, though, because it was all about living for the day.” Coyne is also survived by their two kids, Shia and Timmy.
Kramer with her daughter Shia pointing out lieutenant Timothy Edward Coyne. (Images courtesy of Hilary Kramer)
The love story between Kramer and Coyne began under the neon lights that spell out NEW YORK POLICE DEPT in Times Square. Kramer was rushing to appear on a financial TV news show, and Coyne helped her find her way into the building where they were filming. The two quickly discovered that they shared an interest in investing — Coyne worked on Wall Street before joining the force.
“Tim was a born leader,” says Kramer. “He was the true tough guy: stood up to people, fearless, heroic, would have anybody’s back. Never sent his men in front of him. He led them.”
From the morning of September 11 and through the next year, Coyne logged 5,000 hours at Ground Zero, aiding with rescue and recovery efforts while breathing in asbestos powder and other toxic chemicals. Although Coyne’s official cause of death was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Kramer says many factors contributed, including esophageal cancer, metastasized skin cancer, lung scarring, and COVID.
Kramer has channeled her passion for 9/11 families into the organizations Survivors of the Shield, which supports NYPD widows and children, and the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which provides financial relief for first responders and their loved ones. The survivor community introduced Kramer to Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show and a 9/11 activist. Since 2022, Kramer has joined Stewart on his annual visits on the date to firehouses and police stations across New York City. Last year marked a special occasion, as Stewart, Kramer, and Shia stopped by her husband’s old precinct. “He wants to make sure that no one forgets and that all first responders are appreciated and recognized,” Kramer says of Stewart, who is widely credited with getting the 9/11 Victims Compensation bill signed into law.
Kramer (center, fifth from right) visited her late husband’s NYPD precinct last year on 9/11 with comedian/activist Jon Stewart and daughter Shia.
Kramer is thankful to the NYPD and Folds of Honor, which provides scholarships to gold star children of military members and first responders, but says more work is needed to help widows navigate the red tape. She would like to combine her personal experience with her finance background to make a difference by, for example, advising widows on how to stretch their pensions. “I want to spend the rest of my life giving,” she says. “If you can give to others, you can heal yourself by healing them.”
Robert Hurst WG68
By the afternoon of September 11, the Manhattan Financial District that Goldman Sachs vice chairman Robert Hurst WG68 knew so well was unrecognizable. Soot and debris covered the streets, he recalls, getting worse the closer he walked to the World Trade Center. “It was just dreadful,” Hurst says.
Robert Hurst WG68
As Wall Street quieted down in the aftermath, Hurst sensed a restlessness among his peers. “People were trying to calculate where we were as a country,” he says. “What the response was, the devastation, and what it all meant. There was a lack of coordination and an opportunity for meaningful action.” Hurst tapped into his vast network to help create an organization that would unite nonprofits, government agencies, and major financial firms to assist those affected by the attacks. The result was the 9/11 United Services Group — a central hub of helpful resources, from a universal application form to cut through the red tape of obtaining financial aid to a database organizing information on 83,000 impacted people to community building and advocacy for victims and their families.
“Hearing their stories and the difficulties they were going through transformed how I thought about people who are undergoing hardships,” says Hurst, who was asked to serve as the group’s CEO and took a leave of absence from Goldman to do so. “That impacted me, as a hard-edged business guy, to really understand the importance of empathy, collaboration, and bringing people together.”
At its height, the 9/11 United Services Group had 40 employees. Nationwide organizations such as the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army connected with local interests, including Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York. Financial firms including J.P. Morgan Chase and Bear Stearns provided talent and physical space, while IBM offered technical support. Among the politicians who lent their endorsements was state attorney general Eliot Spitzer; U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton brought Hurst’s ideas to the White House.
“The one thing I learned is that in these emergencies, the role of government, not-for-profits, and concerned citizens is absolutely critical,” says Hurst. Although the 9/11 United Services Group was a volunteer effort, he found that many business principles contributed to making it a success: leadership, quick action, teamwork.
Hurst would later envision the group as a blueprint for future crises. No one could imagine he’d be applying the same framework in a global pandemic less than 20 years later. His 2020 Rescue Fund expanded COVID-19 testing and provided support for struggling people and organizations in his local community of Aspen, Colorado.
The outpouring of support people showed during both emergencies, particularly in the business world, was inspiring for Hurst, who still marvels at what the 9/11 United Services Group accomplished with, and for, so many people.
“Everyone was in that moment where you’re trying to find, ‘How can I help? What small way, what thing can I do?’” he says. “To be in a position where you could have such a lasting and massive impact — we made a real difference.”
