September 11, 2026 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, when the planes struck the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Cantor Fitzgerald was left devastated. The investment firm’s offices spanned the upper floors of the North Tower, leaving no chance of escape. In less than an hour, 658 employees were gone—more lives than any other company lost that day. Among them was the brother of CEO Howard Lutnick. For Lutnick, the grief was immediate and deeply personal, but so was the responsibility. He had to lead a company hollowed out by tragedy while caring for the families who had lost everything. What followed was a story not only of survival, but of loyalty, rebuilding, and the weight of memory.
Howard Lutnick reflects on Cantor Fitzgerald’s darkest day and the colleagues and friends who never came home.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is Our American Stories, remembering the anniversary of 9-11.
Many companies and families lost loved ones that day. I
lost one of my best friends.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Co-captain of my high school basketball team for two years,
there was nothing we didn't do together for so many years.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Paul Biatini.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
There was one investment company that lost 658 of its
960 employees. Before that day, Cantor Fitzgerald hadn't been all
that well-known beyond Wall Street. However, after 9-11, it was
known as the business to have lost the most employees.
employees on 9-11 quote we have death fame ceo howard
(01:11):
lutnick said a few days after the horrific event lutnick
participated in an emotional interview he didn't just lose all
those employees by the way one of them was his
brother here he is explaining why he wasn't.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
There my little boy i have a five-year-old and it
was his first day of kindergarten at uh at Horace Mann,
so I took him for his first day at Big
Boy School.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
And because of that, I.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Was late getting down to the office, and therefore I
wasn't in the building, I was on my way. I
saw the building on fire, so I didn't go in.
but I stood at the door off of Church Street
where there were flags there and I stood at that
door and people were coming out and I was yelling
at them to run and get out and there were
(02:02):
police sort of around me yelling at people telling them
to get out and I.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Would ask them what floor they were coming from, what
floor they were coming from.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Someone would say 55 and I'd scream, we have 55
because I kept wanting to get up the building and well,
my brother.
My brother was on the 103rd floor, he worked for me,
and he worked at Cantor, and he called my sister
just after the plane hit, and he told her that,
(02:30):
he said that the smoke was pouring in, he was
stuck in a corner office, there was no way out,
and the smoke was coming in, and he's not good,
and things are not good, and he's not gonna make it,
and he just wanted to say that he loved her,
and he wanted to say goodbye, And tell everyone that
he loved them.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
And then the phone went dead.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
The plane crashed into floors 93 through 99. Cantor Fitzgerald
was located right above them.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
101 to 105, the top floors of Cantor.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Number one World Trade Center, which they call now the
North Tower. I got to the 91st floor, and I
knew if I got one employee, if one person came
down from that floor, then I know.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
That there had to be others.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
There would be others behind them, there would be others
going out other doors, that would be good. But I
got up to 91, and then I heard this sound.
It sounded like another plane was gonna hit the building.
But it didn't sound like it was far away, it
sounded like it was right where the ceiling is above us.
It was so unbelievably loud, and someone screamed out, another
one's coming, so I just turned around and ran, and
(03:33):
I was running, it was number two World Trade Center collapsing.
So I'm standing underneath a building like an idiot and
I start running and I'm trying to get ahead of
the smoke and then the smoke comes around the corner
on Trinity Church where I ran and knocks me down
underneath a truck and I'm sitting there in this black,
the blackest black that can ever be. I reached up,
(03:54):
I tried to see if I could see and I
took my hands and I put it up and I
actually touched my eye.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
I couldn't see my hand. I could feel the particles
in the air.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
They were like this big. I could feel them going
in and I couldn't think to pick up my shirt.
I was just sitting there thinking, I can't believe it.
I can't believe by standing there I died. So I
just started walking. I just started walking straight. And I
just walked straight. And I just kept walking straight. And
I called my wife four hours later. She was hysterical crying.
(04:23):
So I understand why it took lots of people a
long time. I'm a pretty together person and I Four
hours I walked.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
I just walked north. I just kept walking.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And he just kept walking. All the Cantor Fitzgerald companies
are connected by speakerphone, so there were voices heard from
the tower amidst the chaos.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah, we have, you know, a speakerphone because all our
offices are connected in our equity business. They're all connected
to each other because they talk to each other all day.
And they heard them saying, you know, we need help,
we need help, we need help. It wasn't It wasn't screams.
It was there was nowhere to go.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
You couldn't go down. You couldn't go up. There was
nowhere to go.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
But I don't know of a single one of my
employees who got down. Zero. Zero.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
And it's really sad.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
But I think we're all pulling together with a view
that we want to make things happen for them. We
need to take care of them. We need to figure
out how to take care of them.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Give them more. Take care of them.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And I think it's going to be a different kind
of drive than I've ever had before. It's not about
It's not about my family. I get to kiss my kids.
I get to kiss my kids tonight. But other people
don't get to kiss their kids. And I just have
to help them. And I think it's amazing. And I
think it's amazing. You have 300 people. They lost all
(05:42):
their friends. They lost a person to their left. They
lost a person to their right. And they call me
up and they say, I want to go to work.
I say, why do you want to go to work?
Let's just go to funerals.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
And they go, no. No, I want to go to work.
I can't stay home. I can't stay home. I have
to make... I have to work.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I have to do something. And so they actually wanted
to try to figure out how to be in business.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
It's unbelievable. It doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
But the reason they want to be in business, and
there's only one reason to be in business, is because
we have to make our company be able to take
care of my 700 families.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
700 families. I have 700 families. I just can't say it.
I can't say it without crying.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Well, a different kind of drive that he'd never known
before kicked in to Howard Lutnick and those remaining employees.
Howard further explains what Cantor Fitzgerald was doing before and after.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Cantor Fitzgerald is the primary, it's like the exchange for
the world's bond markets.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I mean, it's, it, It is the exchange for the
world bond markets.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Last year, we did $ 50 trillion in business. Today, the
remaining employees of Canada Fitzgerald and E-Speed have worked every
second since that bomb, and they made the decision.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
And I told them, there's no reason for us to open.
I don't care when we open. If we open, it
doesn't matter to me.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
And they collectively, 250 of them collectively voted that they
were going to open the markets. And this morning, At
7 a.m., those people opened for business, not to make money,
but they did it because they thought if the Fed
and the Treasury wanted it to be open, it was
important enough for them to show strength for America and
(07:38):
for these markets, then they were going to do their
damnedest to get it open, and they did.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I voted against it. I said, why? I don't want
you to work. I want you to go home and.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Kiss your kids and hug your families, but it's them.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
They want it.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
They wanted to do it, maybe for themselves, maybe for
their friends who they lost. But so right this second,
our electronic systems are running around the world, and it's,
I don't know, maybe it's a miracle. Maybe it's because
these people are just, they're unbelievable. I think you can
only be a good boss if you have the right people.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
And I'm glad they chose to be with me, but
I'm the saddest person in the world that they chose
to be with me because they would have chosen to
be with me.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
So many people, so many names, so many people I loved.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
So many people we all loved. Again, that's Howard Lutnick,
the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald. They lost so much, but
they did go back to work. And here's why. After 9-11,
the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund was established. All those people
went back to work for a cause, a big cause.
(08:52):
They have distributed more than $ 180 million to the family
of Cantor Fitzgerald. One quarter of the firm's profits. What
a great American story. What a sad American story. Cantor
Fitzgerald's story, Howard Lutnick's story, here on Our American Stories, 9-11, Remembered.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Thank you.
This is Our American Stories, remembering the anniversary of 9-11.
Many companies and families lost loved ones that day. I
lost one of my best friends.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Co-captain of my high school basketball team for two years,
there was nothing we didn't do together for so many years.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Paul Biatini.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
There was one investment company that lost 658 of its
960 employees. Before that day, Cantor Fitzgerald hadn't been all
that well-known beyond Wall Street. However, after 9-11, it was
known as the business to have lost the most employees.
employees on 9-11 quote we have death fame ceo howard
(01:11):
lutnick said a few days after the horrific event lutnick
participated in an emotional interview he didn't just lose all
those employees by the way one of them was his
brother here he is explaining why he wasn't.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
There my little boy i have a five-year-old and it
was his first day of kindergarten at uh at Horace Mann,
so I took him for his first day at Big
Boy School.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
And because of that, I.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Was late getting down to the office, and therefore I
wasn't in the building, I was on my way. I
saw the building on fire, so I didn't go in.
but I stood at the door off of Church Street
where there were flags there and I stood at that
door and people were coming out and I was yelling
at them to run and get out and there were
(02:02):
police sort of around me yelling at people telling them
to get out and I.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Would ask them what floor they were coming from, what
floor they were coming from.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Someone would say 55 and I'd scream, we have 55
because I kept wanting to get up the building and well,
my brother.
My brother was on the 103rd floor, he worked for me,
and he worked at Cantor, and he called my sister
just after the plane hit, and he told her that,
(02:30):
he said that the smoke was pouring in, he was
stuck in a corner office, there was no way out,
and the smoke was coming in, and he's not good,
and things are not good, and he's not gonna make it,
and he just wanted to say that he loved her,
and he wanted to say goodbye, And tell everyone that
he loved them.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
And then the phone went dead.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
The plane crashed into floors 93 through 99. Cantor Fitzgerald
was located right above them.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
101 to 105, the top floors of Cantor.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Number one World Trade Center, which they call now the
North Tower. I got to the 91st floor, and I
knew if I got one employee, if one person came
down from that floor, then I know.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
That there had to be others.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
There would be others behind them, there would be others
going out other doors, that would be good. But I
got up to 91, and then I heard this sound.
It sounded like another plane was gonna hit the building.
But it didn't sound like it was far away, it
sounded like it was right where the ceiling is above us.
It was so unbelievably loud, and someone screamed out, another
one's coming, so I just turned around and ran, and
(03:33):
I was running, it was number two World Trade Center collapsing.
So I'm standing underneath a building like an idiot and
I start running and I'm trying to get ahead of
the smoke and then the smoke comes around the corner
on Trinity Church where I ran and knocks me down
underneath a truck and I'm sitting there in this black,
the blackest black that can ever be. I reached up,
(03:54):
I tried to see if I could see and I
took my hands and I put it up and I
actually touched my eye.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
I couldn't see my hand. I could feel the particles
in the air.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
They were like this big. I could feel them going
in and I couldn't think to pick up my shirt.
I was just sitting there thinking, I can't believe it.
I can't believe by standing there I died. So I
just started walking. I just started walking straight. And I
just walked straight. And I just kept walking straight. And
I called my wife four hours later. She was hysterical crying.
(04:23):
So I understand why it took lots of people a
long time. I'm a pretty together person and I Four
hours I walked.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
I just walked north. I just kept walking.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And he just kept walking. All the Cantor Fitzgerald companies
are connected by speakerphone, so there were voices heard from
the tower amidst the chaos.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah, we have, you know, a speakerphone because all our
offices are connected in our equity business. They're all connected
to each other because they talk to each other all day.
And they heard them saying, you know, we need help,
we need help, we need help. It wasn't It wasn't screams.
It was there was nowhere to go.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
You couldn't go down. You couldn't go up. There was
nowhere to go.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
But I don't know of a single one of my
employees who got down. Zero. Zero.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
And it's really sad.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
But I think we're all pulling together with a view
that we want to make things happen for them. We
need to take care of them. We need to figure
out how to take care of them.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Give them more. Take care of them.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And I think it's going to be a different kind
of drive than I've ever had before. It's not about
It's not about my family. I get to kiss my kids.
I get to kiss my kids tonight. But other people
don't get to kiss their kids. And I just have
to help them. And I think it's amazing. And I
think it's amazing. You have 300 people. They lost all
(05:42):
their friends. They lost a person to their left. They
lost a person to their right. And they call me
up and they say, I want to go to work.
I say, why do you want to go to work?
Let's just go to funerals.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
And they go, no. No, I want to go to work.
I can't stay home. I can't stay home. I have
to make... I have to work.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I have to do something. And so they actually wanted
to try to figure out how to be in business.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
It's unbelievable. It doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
But the reason they want to be in business, and
there's only one reason to be in business, is because
we have to make our company be able to take
care of my 700 families.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
700 families. I have 700 families. I just can't say it.
I can't say it without crying.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Well, a different kind of drive that he'd never known
before kicked in to Howard Lutnick and those remaining employees.
Howard further explains what Cantor Fitzgerald was doing before and after.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Cantor Fitzgerald is the primary, it's like the exchange for
the world's bond markets.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I mean, it's, it, It is the exchange for the
world bond markets.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Last year, we did $ 50 trillion in business. Today, the
remaining employees of Canada Fitzgerald and E-Speed have worked every
second since that bomb, and they made the decision.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
And I told them, there's no reason for us to open.
I don't care when we open. If we open, it
doesn't matter to me.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
And they collectively, 250 of them collectively voted that they
were going to open the markets. And this morning, At
7 a.m., those people opened for business, not to make money,
but they did it because they thought if the Fed
and the Treasury wanted it to be open, it was
important enough for them to show strength for America and
(07:38):
for these markets, then they were going to do their
damnedest to get it open, and they did.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I voted against it. I said, why? I don't want
you to work. I want you to go home and.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Kiss your kids and hug your families, but it's them.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
They want it.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
They wanted to do it, maybe for themselves, maybe for
their friends who they lost. But so right this second,
our electronic systems are running around the world, and it's,
I don't know, maybe it's a miracle. Maybe it's because
these people are just, they're unbelievable. I think you can
only be a good boss if you have the right people.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
And I'm glad they chose to be with me, but
I'm the saddest person in the world that they chose
to be with me because they would have chosen to
be with me.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
So many people, so many names, so many people I loved.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
So many people we all loved. Again, that's Howard Lutnick,
the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald. They lost so much, but
they did go back to work. And here's why. After 9-11,
the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund was established. All those people
went back to work for a cause, a big cause.
(08:52):
They have distributed more than $ 180 million to the family
of Cantor Fitzgerald. One quarter of the firm's profits. What
a great American story. What a sad American story. Cantor
Fitzgerald's story, Howard Lutnick's story, here on Our American Stories, 9-11, Remembered.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Thank you.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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