Singer Cherry to say goodbye to son lost at Trade Center

Diana Sahagun

Monday, Sept. 17, 2001 | 9:28 a.m.

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 Steven, one of at least 670 employees of the Cantor Fitzgerald brokerage firm who are listed as missing after Tuesday's attack on the World Trade Center.

Steven Patrick Cherry, who would have turned 42 Sept. 25, was one of 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 airliners Tuesday.

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, to be with his 5-year-old son on his first day of kindergarten.

Steven Cherry had worked at Cantor Fitzgerald the past six years.

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

American Airlines Flight 11 struck the building at about the 90th floor around 8:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday.

Steven Cherry called the firm's Westchester, N.Y., office to inform an employee there that something had apparently struck the tower, and he had been told to evacuate. 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, recounting the words of his son.

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.

"Thirty minutes before the crash, 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."

Cherry had last spoken to his son on Sept. 9, and most of their conversation focused on Steven's family -- his wife Mary Ellen, and their four sons: Jeremy, 14; Peter, 12; Brett, 4; and Colton, 1.

Cherry and his son also spoke about the 5 acres Steven Cherry recently purchased in New York, where he had planned to build a home for his family. His son didn't mind the 60-minute drive to work from his home in Greenwich, Conn., Don Cherry said.

Still, Cherry said, his son was looking forward to his new home.

At 2 p.m. Friday his 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.