US businesses based in the World Trade Centre put a brave face on the huge loss of life that occurred on Tuesday when the famed twin towers were decimated in a terrorist attack. But the destruction of the World Trade Centre towers, a symbol of the power of American business, undoubtedly demolished some of America's best and brightest business workers.
The 110-storey towers housed more than 400 tenants including banks and brokerage firms, technology companies and law offices. Around 50,000 people regularly worked in the centre.
Also among the dead were several senior executives, who were on the hijacked planes that slammed into the buildings, causing them to burst into flames and ultimately collapse.
The centre's largest tenant is Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, a US investment firm. Morgan Stanley, which had 3,500 employees in the Trade towers, leased 20 floors in the south tower, the second building struck.
The investment bank declined to give details on the status of its staff who worked at the twin towers, but a spokeswoman said damage from Tuesday's attacks to the firm's business was "fairly insignificant".
Other building tenants included bond dealer Cantor Fitzgerald, which leased floors 101 to 105 of the north tower; Germany's Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of America, each occupying four floors; money management firm Fiduciary Trust Inc, which had 500 employees in the towers; and Empire Healthcare which occupied 10 floors in the south tower.
Cantor Fitzgerald said it had compiled a preliminary "safe" list of 150 to 200 employees who have been accounted for, including President Peter da Puzzo.
The president of investment managers Fred Alger Management, David Alger, and 37 others remained unaccounted for yesterday. Its offices were on the 93rd floor of the World Trade Centre.
The impact of the deaths of so many highly skilled workers remains unclear. Behind the scenes, though, analysts were most concerned about how the huge loss of life would affect Morgan Stanley. But the Wall Street Journal reported that in a memo sent to staff on Tuesday, company officers assured employees that workers in the centre had been evacuated and were apparently all right. The memo also reported that senior management had been at a meeting in midtown Manhattan at the company's offices in Times Square and were unhurt by the blast.
A company spokesman, however, denied that the safety of employees had been confirmed. Even if employees were evacuated, many could still have been on the scene when the buildings crumbled. Publicly, executives remain tight-lipped about the safety of employees and the impact the loss of human capital will have on the company.
"We have limited information about the Trade Centre disaster beyond what has been reported in the news. Our key focus and concern are for the well-being and safety of Morgan Stanley employees," chief executive Mr Phil Purcell said in a statement posted on the company website.
Bank of America, another of the centre's s top 10 tenants, also spoke out to quash rumours about the fate of its executive team. On Tuesday, talk spread quickly that a meeting of the top brass had occurred at the centre's offices.
In a statement, chief executive Ken Lewis said: "We are currently checking one by one to determine the status of our associates who worked in the World Trade Centre . . . Our entire operating committee is accounted for and safe."
Also among the dead were two notable technology senior executives. Edward Glazer (41), chief financial officer of MRV Communications, a California-based optical networking firm, was aboard American Airlines flight 11, the first plane to crash into the trade centre's north tower.
Also on board was Daniel C Lewin, co-founder and chief technology officer of Akamai Technologies, an Internet infrastructure company.
Mr Lewin was 31 years old and is survived by his wife and two sons. Mr George H Conrades, chairman and chief executive officer of Akamai said: "Danny was a wonderful human being. He will be deeply missed by his many friends at Akamai."
