Cantor Fitzgerald commits to family members of 658 workers lost on 9/11
David Handschuh/News
Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, survived 9/11 because he was dropping his son at his first day of school. He rebuilt the company after 600 of his employees lost their lives.
On the night of Sept. 11, 2001, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick picked up the phone in his Manhattan apartment and dialed into a conference call.
Lutnick’s brother, best friend and 656 other colleagues were dead. His firm, 960 people strong a day earlier, was decimated.
On the other end of the line were some of the surviving Cantor employees.
“We have two choices,” Lutnick told them.
“We could shut the firm and attend our friends’ funerals, or we’re going to work harder than we’ve ever worked before to help their families.”
The decision was unanimous: Cantor Fitzgerald, Wall Street’s most venerable bond trading firm, would rise from the ashes.
The stakes were gargantuan. Lutnick did not announce it then, but he and the other surviving execs harbored grander plans.
They vowed to distribute 25% of the firm’s profits to victims’ families for five years and provide them with health benefits for 10.
Lutnick revealed the firm’s intentions on Sept. 19.
Ten years later, Cantor has handed out more than $180 million to the families and fulfilled its promise to pay their health care.