In commemoration of the 21st anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Queens College will host a ceremony honoring 40 college alumni, faculty and other community members who lost their lives that day.
The ceremony will take place on Friday, Sept. 9, at 8:30 a.m. at Cooperman Plaza, located in front of the main entrance to the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library.
The bells in the Chaney-Goodman-Schwerner Clocktower of the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library will toll at 8:46 a.m. and 9:03 a.m. to mark the minutes when the towers were struck. The ceremony will conclude with Enzo Cetti, an Aaron Copland School of Music student, performing “Taps” on the trumpet.
The ceremony will be hosted by Queens College President Frank Wu with invited guest speakers Father Jeremy Canna, director of the Catholic Newman Center; State Assemblywoman Nily Rozic; Councilman James Gennaro; and a student body representative.
Among the alumni lost on Sept. 11 was Mohammed Salman Hamdani, who was a June 2001 QC graduate in the process of applying to medical school.
Hamdani, who was an NYC-certified EMT, saw the smoking towers on his way to work as a laboratory technician at Rockefeller University. He rushed downtown to help and died in the towers’ collapse. When Hamdani went missing on that day, his family feared that he either had perished in the collapse or was behind held by the authorities, as were many Muslim men in the aftermath of the attack, according to Queens College.
While hundreds of men and women lost their lives trying to save their fellow New Yorkers that day, only Hamdani was suspected of being a terrorist.
Hamdani, a Pakistani American, was recognized as a hero by former Mayor Mike Bloomberg who attended his funeral in early 2002 when his remains were discovered at Ground Zero. Bloomberg had called Hamdani “an example of how one can make the world better.”
Hamdani’s heroism is acknowledged in a section of the U.S. Patriot Act on “Congress Condemning Discrimination Against Arab and Muslim Americans.” At the televised Congressional hearings on Muslims in America called by Congressman Peter King last March, Congressman Keith Ellison told the Hamdani story, his voice breaking during the emotional testimony.
In 2011, Hamdani’s mother, Talat, established a scholarship fund to honor her son’s dream by financially aiding a graduating senior who has been accepted to medical school.
There are two Sept. 11 commemorative plaques on the Queens College campus. Both are located near the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, with one marking a memorial garden planted by students from nearby Public School 499 and the Queens College School for Math, Science and Technology.
An annual campus ceremony has marked the 9/11 attacks since 2002.
The in-person audience for this commemorative event is limited to the college community and invited guests. The public is invited to watch it live on the college’s YouTube page here.
See the full list below of Queens College community members who died on Sept. 11.
- Marie Rose Abad ‘74 Sociology
- Christy A. Addamo ‘94 Accounting (employee of Marsh & McLennan)
- Guy Barzvi ‘98 Accounting
- Dominick Berardi (alumnus; employee of Cantor Fitzgerald)
- Joseph J. Berry ‘69 Math & Economics
- Alan Bondarenko (brother of retired employee Marilyn Burgmaier, Human Resources)
- Alexander Braginsky ‘87 Accounting
- Delrose E. Forbes Cheatham ‘00 Accounting
- David DeFeo ‘90 Psychology (son of retired employee Louise DeFeo, Human Resources)
- William J. Dimmling ‘76 Accounting and Economics, summa cum laude
- Donald Foreman (alumnus)
- Thomas Gardner ‘95 Biology (FDNY Haz-Mat Instructor and Firefighter)
- Matthew Garvey ‘99 History (Marine Corps Veteran; FDNY Firefighter, Squad 1, Park Slope, Brooklyn)
- Steven A. Giorgetti ‘80 Accounting (Senior Vice President with Marsh & McLennan)
- Mohammad S. Hamdani ‘01 Chemistry
- Daniel E. Harlin (alumnus; FDNY Firefighter, Ladder 2, Batallion 8, Midtown Manhattan)
- Milagros Hromada (daughter-in-law of retired College Assistant Dolores Hromada; employee of the Aon Corporation)
- Louis Steven Inghilterra ‘81 Accounting
- Stephanie Irby ‘92 Accounting
- Luis Jimenez, Jr. ‘98 Accounting
- Hyun Joon Lee (Paul) Lee (alum; accounting major).
- Ralph Licciardi (cousin of retired employee Mario Caruso, Graduate Admissions)
- Joseph Lostrangio ‘75 Communications
- Gary Lutnick (son of deceased Queens College Professor Solomon Lutnick)
- Patrick Lyons ‘84 Media Studies
- Eskedar Melaku ‘92 Accounting (Assistant Vice President with Marsh & McLennan)
- Sharon C. Millan
- Ronald K. Milstein ‘72 English
- Nancy Morgenstern ‘90 Communications Arts & Sciences (employee of Cantor Fitzgerald)
- Laurence Nedell (alumnus)
- Gye Hyong Park (alum)
- Michael R. Richards ‘85 Art Studio
- Christopher A. Santora ‘00 History
- Michael Seaman (husband of Queens College alumna Dara Seaman)
- Lonny Stone ’82 BA, Communication, Arts & Sciences
- Paul Talty ‘92 Sociology (husband of Queens College alumna and former employee Barbara Talty)
- Lawrence Virgilio ‘87 American Studies
- Gabriela Waisman ‘93 Psychology
- Michael H. Waye
- Oleh D. Wengerchuk ‘77 Art
