LV families share loss of sons in WTC tower

Diana Sahagun and Ed Koch

Monday, Sept. 17, 2001 | 10:51 a.m.

A pair of Las Vegas families have been bracing for the worst, awaiting news of their relatives who were co-workers at Cantor Fitzgerald brokerage firm at the World Trade Center.

Both Steven Cherry and Steven Furman were listed as missing after Tuesday's attack on the New York landmark.

Don Cherry, a local entertainer and professional golfer, plans to gather his family and travel to Connecticut this week to say goodbye to his son, a father of four who was one of at least 670 employees of the firm.

Jayne Furman said her brother, who also leaves behind four children, was a giving, caring person who volunteered his time to make his community a better place.

Cherry would have turned 42 on Sept. 25. Furman was to have turned 41 last Thursday. Cherry and his wife, Mary Ellen have four sons: Jeremy, 14; Peter, 12; Brett, 4; and Colton, 1. Furman and his wife, Chavi, have two sons, Nathan 11 and Menashe, 5, and two daughters, Rachel 10, and Naomi, 8.

Cherry and Furman were among 1,000 employees who showed up for work Tuesday on the 101st, 103rd, 104th and 105th floors of One World Trade Center, the first of the two towers struck by a pair of hijacked airliners Tuesday. American Airlines Flight 11 struck the building at about the 90th floor around 8:45 a.m. EDT.

Cantor Fitzgerald Chief Executive Officer Howard Lutnick tearfully recounted how he tried in vain to reach employees when he arrived at the burning tower. Lutnick arrived late for work Tuesday because he had been with his 5-year-old son on his first day of kindergarten.

Cherry had worked at Cantor Fitzgerald the past six years. Furman, who had worked 14 years at New York Mercantile and survived the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, had worked for Cantor Fitzgerald since spring.

"Steven was very successful," Don Cherry said. "He was a good-looking kid, and he could communicate with anybody."

Jayne Furman, who also was in the World Trade Center during the 1993 bombing and moved to Las Vegas because she felt it is a safer place, said Steven's first concern was his wife and children and that he worked hard to secure their future, especially their education.

To help with the children's education now, the family has set up the Steven Furman Memorial Fund, 58 Collinwood Road, Maplewood, N.J., 07040.

"Steven was a generous person who gave to charities and at one time worked nights patrolling for Neighborhood Watch after working during the day," she said. "On his days off, he would do things to help people, like give them rides to where they needed to go.

"For the children to lose their father so young is horrible. Children should not have to grow up like that."

Steven Cherry had called the firm's Westchester, N.Y., office to tell an employee there that something had apparently struck the tower, and he had been told to evacuate, his father, Don, said. The employee later told Don Cherry that he heard screams before the line went dead.

Cherry was watching the news Tuesday morning at his home at the Las Vegas Country Club. He didn't know that his son worked at the building.

But something didn't feel right, he said Friday.

"I had a feeling when I saw (the plane hit the first tower) that there was something wrong," Cherry said.

Ten minutes later Cherry received a call from his son Sean, who lives in Florida.

"Dad, you're not going to believe it, but that plane hit right where Steven's office was," Cherry said.

For hours Cherry and his wife watched television. They desperately waited for news that Steven had somehow escaped the burning tower before it collapsed. They watched Lutnick speak of his missing brother, who also worked at the firm.

"He called my sister just after the first plane hit," Lutnick said. "He said the smoke was pouring in, he was in a corner office and he's not going to make it out. He just wanted to tell her that he loved her."

Steven Cherry called his wife 30 minutes before the first plane struck the towers.

"Steven made a call to his wife, to talk to her and tell her how much he loved her and the kids. He hadn't done that very often; it was very weird," Don Cherry said. "He did that before anything happened."

At 2 p.m. FridayCherry's family will attend a memorial service for Steven at St. Michael's Church in Greenwich.

In February Don Cherry will play in a golf tournament in Clearwater, Fla., to benefit the American Lung Association. He will dedicate his role in the tournament to Steven.

The Associated Press contributed to this story