The CEO of The Company That Lost More Lives Than Any Other—658, Including His Brother—Remembers 9/11
September 12, 2024 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, tells the story of the company's worst tragedy..and their remarkable response after.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:20):
This is our American stories. Remembering the anniversary of nine
to eleven. Many companies and families lost loved ones that day.
I lost one of my best friends, co captain of
my high school basketball team for two years. There was
nothing we didn't do together for so many years. Paul Battini.
(00:46):
There was one investment company that lost six hundred and
fifty eight of its nine hundred and sixty employees. Before
that day, Canter Fitzgerald hadn't been all that well known
beyond Wall Street. However, after nine to eleven, it was
known as the business to have lost the most employees
on nine to eleven. Quote, we have death fame, CEO
(01:10):
Howard Lutnick said, a few days after the horrific event,
Lutnick participated in an emotional interview.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
He didn't just.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Lose all those employees, by the way, one of them
was his brother. Here he is explaining why he wasn't there.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
My little boy.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I have a five year old and it was his
first day of kindergarten at harst Man, so I took
him for his first day a big boys school. And
because of that, I was late getting down to the office,
and therefore I wasn't in the building.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I was on my way.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I saw the building on fire, so I didn't go in.
But I stood at the door off a church street
where there were flags there. When I stood at the door,
and people were coming out, and I was yelling at
them to run and get out, and there were police
sort of around me yelling at people, told them to
get out. And I would ask him what floora they
(02:06):
were coming from, what flora they're coming from? So I
would say fifty five, and I'd scream, we have fifty five,
And because I kept wanting to get up the building.
And well, my brother, my brother was on one hundred
and third floor. He worked, He worked for me, and
he worked at Canner. And he called my sister just
after the just after the plane hit, and he told
(02:28):
her that he said that the smoke was pouring in.
He was he was stuck in a corner office. There
was no way out and the smoke was coming in.
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 when he wanted to say goodbye.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
And I tell everyone that he loved them, And then
the phone went The phone went dead.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
The plane crashed into floors ninety three through ninety nine.
Canter Fitzgerald was located right above.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
The undred and one to one hundred and five, the
top floors of the of number one World Trade Center,
which they called down the North Tower.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I got to the ninety first floor, and I knew
if I.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Got one employee, if one person came down from that floor,
that I know that there had to be others. There
would be others behind them, there would be others going
out other doors. That that would be good. But I
got up to ninety one and then I heard this sound.
It sounded like another plane was going to hit the
building and it but it didn't sound like it was
far away. It sounded like it was like right by
the ceiling is above us. It was so unbelievably loud,
(03:29):
and someone screamed out another one's coming. So I just
turned around and ran and I and I was running,
I was it was number two World Trade Center collapsing.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
So I'm standing underneath a building like an idiot.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
And I started running and I'm trying to get ahead
of the smoke.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And then the smoke comes around the corner.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
On Trimnity Church where I ran and knocks me down
underneath the truck.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
And I'm sitting there in this black, the blackest black
that can ever be. I reached up.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
I tried to see if I could see it, and I
took my hands and I put it up and I
actually touched my eye. I couldn't see my hand. I
could feel the particles in the air. They were they
were like this big. I could feel them going in
and I wasn't. I couldn't think that like pick up
my shirt and put I was just I was just
sitting there thinking, I can't believe it. I can't believe
by standing there I died.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
So I just started walking. I just start walking straight.
And I just walked straight. And I just keep walking straight.
And I called my wife four hours later. She was
hysterical crying, and so.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
I understand why I took lots of people a long time.
I was, I'm a pretty tig other person. And I
four hours I walked. I just walked north.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I just keme walking and he just kept walking. All
the Canter Fitzgerald companies are connected by speakerphone, so there
were voices heard from the tower amidst the chaos.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, we have you know a speakerphone because all our
offices are connected in our equity business, they were all
connected to each other because they talked 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 screens. It was there was nowhere to go.
You couldn't go down, couldn't go up. There was nowhere
to go. But I don't know of a single one
(05:06):
of my employees who got down zero zero. And it's
really said, But I think we're all pulling together with
a view that we wanna make things happen for them.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
We we need to take care of them.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
We need to figure out how to take care of
them and give them more, take care of them. And
I think it's gonna be a different kind of drive
than I've ever had before.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
It's not about my it's not about my family. I
can't to.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
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 'em. And I think, I
think it's amazing, And I think it's amazing. They have
three hundred people, they lost all their friends, they lost
the person to their left, they lost the person to
their right, and they call me up and they say.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I wanna go to work. I said, why do you
wanna go to work, Let's just go to funerals. And
they go, no, no, I wanna go to work. I
can't stay home. I can't stay home. I have to
make I have to work. I have to do something.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
So they actually wanted to try to figure it out
to be in business.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
It's unbelievable. It doesn't make many sense.
Speaker 4 (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 seven hundred families.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Seven hundred families, seven hundred families. Just can't say it.
I can't say that crime.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Well, a different kind of drive that he'd never known
before kicked in to Howard Lutnik and those remaining employees.
Howard further explains what Canter Fitzgerald was doing before and after.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Caunter Fitzgerald is the primary. It's like the exchange for
the world's bond markets. I mean it, it is the
exchange for the world bond markets. We last last year
we did fifty trillion dollars in business today. The remaining
employees of Canaforite, Scherld and Eastpeed have worked every second
(07:08):
since that bomb. And they made the decision. And I
told them there's no reason for us to open. I
don't care when we open. If we opened, it doesn't
matter to me. And they collectively, two hundred and fifty
of them collectively voted that they were going to open
the markets. And this morning, at seven am, those people
opened for business, not.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
To make money, not but they did it because.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
They thought if the if the fend the Treasure wanted
it to be opened, and it was important enough for
them to show straight for America and for these markets,
then they were going to do their damn just to
get it opened.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
And they did, and it I voted against it. I said, why,
I don't want you to work.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
I want you to go home and kiss your kids
and hug your families.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
But they it's them they wanted.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
They wanted to do it, maybe for themselves, maybe for
the their friends who they lost. But to write the 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 cause if you have the right people.
And I'm glad they chose to be with me, But
(08:15):
I'm the saidst person in the world that they chose
to be with me.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Chose to be with me.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Too many people, so many names, so many people I loved.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
So many people we all loved. Again, that's Howard Lutnick,
the CEO of Canter Fitzgerald. They lost so much, but
they did go back to work. And here's why. After
nine to eleven the Canter Fitzgerald Relief Fund was established.
All those people went back to work for a cause,
(08:50):
a big cause. They have distributed more than one hundred
and eighty million dollars to the family of Canter Fitzgerald,
one quarter of the firm's profit. What a great American story,
What a sad American story, Canter Fitzgerald's story, Howard lutnick story.
Here on our American Stories. Nine to eleven remembered
This is our American stories. Remembering the anniversary of nine
to eleven. Many companies and families lost loved ones that day.
I lost one of my best friends, co captain of
my high school basketball team for two years. There was
nothing we didn't do together for so many years. Paul Battini.
(00:46):
There was one investment company that lost six hundred and
fifty eight of its nine hundred and sixty employees. Before
that day, Canter Fitzgerald hadn't been all that well known
beyond Wall Street. However, after nine to eleven, it was
known as the business to have lost the most employees
on nine to eleven. Quote, we have death fame, CEO
(01:10):
Howard Lutnick said, a few days after the horrific event,
Lutnick participated in an emotional interview.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
He didn't just.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Lose all those employees, by the way, one of them
was his brother. Here he is explaining why he wasn't there.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
My little boy.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I have a five year old and it was his
first day of kindergarten at harst Man, so I took
him for his first day a big boys school. And
because of that, I was late getting down to the office,
and therefore I wasn't in the building.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I was on my way.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I saw the building on fire, so I didn't go in.
But I stood at the door off a church street
where there were flags there. When I stood at the door,
and people were coming out, and I was yelling at
them to run and get out, and there were police
sort of around me yelling at people, told them to
get out. And I would ask him what floora they
(02:06):
were coming from, what flora they're coming from? So I
would say fifty five, and I'd scream, we have fifty five,
And because I kept wanting to get up the building.
And well, my brother, my brother was on one hundred
and third floor. He worked, He worked for me, and
he worked at Canner. And he called my sister just
after the just after the plane hit, and he told
(02:28):
her that he said that the smoke was pouring in.
He was he was stuck in a corner office. There
was no way out and the smoke was coming in.
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 when he wanted to say goodbye.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
And I tell everyone that he loved them, And then
the phone went The phone went dead.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
The plane crashed into floors ninety three through ninety nine.
Canter Fitzgerald was located right above.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
The undred and one to one hundred and five, the
top floors of the of number one World Trade Center,
which they called down the North Tower.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I got to the ninety first floor, and I knew
if I.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Got one employee, if one person came down from that floor,
that I know that there had to be others. There
would be others behind them, there would be others going
out other doors. That that would be good. But I
got up to ninety one and then I heard this sound.
It sounded like another plane was going to hit the
building and it but it didn't sound like it was
far away. It sounded like it was like right by
the ceiling is above us. It was so unbelievably loud,
(03:29):
and someone screamed out another one's coming. So I just
turned around and ran and I and I was running,
I was it was number two World Trade Center collapsing.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
So I'm standing underneath a building like an idiot.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
And I started running and I'm trying to get ahead
of the smoke.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And then the smoke comes around the corner.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
On Trimnity Church where I ran and knocks me down
underneath the truck.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
And I'm sitting there in this black, the blackest black
that can ever be. I reached up.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
I tried to see if I could see it, and I
took my hands and I put it up and I
actually touched my eye. I couldn't see my hand. I
could feel the particles in the air. They were they
were like this big. I could feel them going in
and I wasn't. I couldn't think that like pick up
my shirt and put I was just I was just
sitting there thinking, I can't believe it. I can't believe
by standing there I died.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
So I just started walking. I just start walking straight.
And I just walked straight. And I just keep walking straight.
And I called my wife four hours later. She was
hysterical crying, and so.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
I understand why I took lots of people a long time.
I was, I'm a pretty tig other person. And I
four hours I walked. I just walked north.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I just keme walking and he just kept walking. All
the Canter Fitzgerald companies are connected by speakerphone, so there
were voices heard from the tower amidst the chaos.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, we have you know a speakerphone because all our
offices are connected in our equity business, they were all
connected to each other because they talked 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 screens. It was there was nowhere to go.
You couldn't go down, couldn't go up. There was nowhere
to go. But I don't know of a single one
(05:06):
of my employees who got down zero zero. And it's
really said, But I think we're all pulling together with
a view that we wanna make things happen for them.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
We we need to take care of them.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
We need to figure out how to take care of
them and give them more, take care of them. And
I think it's gonna be a different kind of drive
than I've ever had before.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
It's not about my it's not about my family. I
can't to.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
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 'em. And I think, I
think it's amazing, And I think it's amazing. They have
three hundred people, they lost all their friends, they lost
the person to their left, they lost the person to
their right, and they call me up and they say.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I wanna go to work. I said, why do you
wanna go to work, Let's just go to funerals. And
they go, no, no, I wanna go to work. I
can't stay home. I can't stay home. I have to
make I have to work. I have to do something.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
So they actually wanted to try to figure it out
to be in business.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
It's unbelievable. It doesn't make many sense.
Speaker 4 (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 seven hundred families.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Seven hundred families, seven hundred families. Just can't say it.
I can't say that crime.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Well, a different kind of drive that he'd never known
before kicked in to Howard Lutnik and those remaining employees.
Howard further explains what Canter Fitzgerald was doing before and after.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Caunter Fitzgerald is the primary. It's like the exchange for
the world's bond markets. I mean it, it is the
exchange for the world bond markets. We last last year
we did fifty trillion dollars in business today. The remaining
employees of Canaforite, Scherld and Eastpeed have worked every second
(07:08):
since that bomb. And they made the decision. And I
told them there's no reason for us to open. I
don't care when we open. If we opened, it doesn't
matter to me. And they collectively, two hundred and fifty
of them collectively voted that they were going to open
the markets. And this morning, at seven am, those people
opened for business, not.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
To make money, not but they did it because.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
They thought if the if the fend the Treasure wanted
it to be opened, and it was important enough for
them to show straight for America and for these markets,
then they were going to do their damn just to
get it opened.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
And they did, and it I voted against it. I said, why,
I don't want you to work.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
I want you to go home and kiss your kids
and hug your families.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
But they it's them they wanted.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
They wanted to do it, maybe for themselves, maybe for
the their friends who they lost. But to write the 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 cause if you have the right people.
And I'm glad they chose to be with me, But
(08:15):
I'm the saidst person in the world that they chose
to be with me.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Chose to be with me.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Too many people, so many names, so many people I loved.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
So many people we all loved. Again, that's Howard Lutnick,
the CEO of Canter Fitzgerald. They lost so much, but
they did go back to work. And here's why. After
nine to eleven the Canter Fitzgerald Relief Fund was established.
All those people went back to work for a cause,
(08:50):
a big cause. They have distributed more than one hundred
and eighty million dollars to the family of Canter Fitzgerald,
one quarter of the firm's profit. What a great American story,
What a sad American story, Canter Fitzgerald's story, Howard lutnick story.
Here on our American Stories. Nine to eleven remembered
Host
Lee Habeeb
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