OT: James Gartenberg

Submitted by tdeshetler on

On this day 13 years ago, we lost a beloved Wolverine.

James earned an A.B. degree in economics and was president of the U-M Alumni Club of New York and served on U-M’s National Library Leadership Council.

On September 11th, 2001 Jimmy was going to work for his last day at Julien J. Studley Inc. in the WTC. He had accepted an offer from another company in Midtown, and went in to move out and say goodbye.

Jim was on the 86th floor, trapped and unable to access the stairwell when the building collapsed.  

Left behind are Jim's wife Jill and daughter Nicole.  Please take a minute to say a prayer for this family and remember all of the lives lost on that day.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

rob f

September 11th, 2014 at 11:23 AM ^

One day away from a new job, one day away from being somewhere else and being spared.  

I hadn't ever heard of James Gartenberg until now; his family and loved ones have my prayers on the 13th anniversary of all hell breaking loose. 

 

Meeeeshigan

September 11th, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^

Tragedy in every sense of the word.

This story reminds me of a college classmate of mine who was on Flight 11 from Boston to LA, which crashed into the North Tower. He was on the flight to go out to tell a firm in LA that his firm was not going to go through with a deal they had been discussing, something they could have easily handled by phone or internet. It seems that this firm insisted on having a representative deliver this news in person. He was to come back to Boston that afternoon. Just an extremely unfortunate occurrence.

Hard to believe 13 years have passed already...

bronxblue

September 11th, 2014 at 12:18 PM ^

Sad so many had to die so horrifically. Obvious condolences to those who lost loved ones.

As an aside, let's keep this thread clean of any politics. The community here is pretty good about it, but just wanted to put it out there.

1989 UM GRAD

September 11th, 2014 at 12:56 PM ^

Here's the list of U of M grads that perished that day.

http://www.vpcomm.umich.edu/issues/sept11.html

Oddly, I knew three of them...James Gartenberg, Steve Goldstein, and Mark Zeplin.

The brother of my first girlfriend at U of M would've been on one of the upper floors of one of the towers had his wife not badgered him in to stopping to vote on the way to work that morning. 

So many sad and inspiring stories to come out of that day. 

We will, indeed, never forget.

 

sadeto

September 11th, 2014 at 1:47 PM ^

Mark was in the very first political science section I taught as a TA. I remembered him for years after, it was my first class, I was scared as hell, a couple of bright young students, both from New York, made it easier with their intelligence, wit, and just overall positive attitude towards participating in class. He was one of them. Years later, I was standing on the edge of the WTC plaza looking up at debris and people falling, wondering about the neighbors, friends, and clients I knew were in there, trying to cross the plaza as if I could do something to help but being stopped by a cop, a cop in his boxers and a t-shirt who obviously just rolled out of bed and ran to the site to help, waving his badge in the air and trying to clear people away from the plaza. it never crossed my mind that some bright young kid from a section I had taught years earlier in Ann Arbor would be in there. I heard what sounded like a waterfall, looked up and saw the south tower crashing down on itself, floor by floor. The cop ran toward the tower, I turned and tried to run away but was overcome by the debris cloud. Later that week, I was looking at lists of the missing and saw Mark's name and a brief description of him. That kid from my first section grew into a successful young man with young children. I had lost several neighbors and friends, but it hit just as hard to see his name. A few years later or so, I was watching the annual ceremony at the site, where relatives read the list of names and call out a family member or friend, and there was Mark's older son, I don't remember his name, talking about his dad whom he lost when he was so young, and the last thing his son said was..."Go Blue!"

 

Michigasling

September 12th, 2014 at 1:17 AM ^

But I was volunteering for a candidate, working a poll site uptown, and when the election had been canceled I called the campaign office to see if there was anything I could do.  The campaign manager said, "Just come down here if you want to be with friends."  Our candidate was watching the TV we put on an ironing board outside on the sidewalk, with a look that made it clear the election was the last thing on his mind.  After a very long morning, he went home for a brief nap.  Later a man came in, wearing running shorts, looking anxious, finally asking if he could speak to our candidate.  We said he'd gone home for a bit, but was there a message we could give him?  The guy stood there for a moment, turned away, turned back, stopped, and then said "If I hadn't gone to vote for him, I'd be dead."  He was basically thanking our man for saving his life.

But there was another volunteer I'd stuffed envelopes with, a tall, charismatic guy who spoke 5 languages (said it was good for meeting girls), who didn't come back.  I didn't know until later that he was an actor and a cop (and occasionally played a cop on TV), who that day went down to Police Plaza to put in his retirement papers, as he was about to start law school.  So, being in the neighborhood, and a cop on his last day, he ran to help.  One Life to Live used his picture, their fictional cop on the wall of their fictional police station, as their 9-11 tribute for several years afterward.

 

M-Dog

September 11th, 2014 at 12:56 PM ^

Our family lost a friend that day as well, on the flight that crashed in PA.  Wrong place at the wrong time . . . you just never really know what the future holds on any given day.  

Live every day and be thankful for it.