Un Pesce vittima singola e singolare del 911!
Danny Pesce, 34, manager at Cantor Fitzgerald, loved cars
Doting son, brother, uncle always put others ahead of himself
Date of Death 9/11/2001
By Stephanie Slepian
Advance staff writer
Monday, 10/08/2001
Danny Pesce doted on his niece and nephew, spent weekends with his parents, was passionate about cars and loved a good cigar.
Now, his family is left with memories of the man who always put others ahead of himself. The 34-year-old Cantor Fitzgerald employee is among the missing victims of the World Trade Center attack.
Mr. Pesce, the manager of the company's ticket desk, was on the 105th floor of Tower 1 when the first plane hit. Within two minutes, he was on the phone with his sister.
"As soon as the plane hit the building, he called me and told me to put on the television and let him know what was going on," said his sister, Angela Frunzi. "He said something exploded on his floor. I put on the television and I saw the shape of the plane. I heard him tell all his coworkers that a 'plane hit us.' " Mrs. Frunzi called her husband, Mark, a city police officer, who didn't have any information. Then, she called her brother back and told him to leave the building.
"I told him, 'Just whatever you do, get out. Your building is in flames,' " she recalled. "He said they were just starting to smell the smoke. I told him to put a wet cloth over his mouth and get out."
Mr. Pesce dropped the phone, leaving his sister on the line listening to the desperate escape.
"I heard him directing everyone off the floor," she said. "Then I hung up because I couldn't listen anymore."
The family is not surprised that Mr. Pesce spent his last moments trying to help his co-workers.
"He always put himself last," said his brother-in-law, Mark. "Every day, I open the paper and there's another Cantor Fitzgerald employee. It's scary." Mr. Pesce was a devoted son, brother and uncle.
"He was a bachelor, so he would spend the weekends taking care of our parents," Mrs. Frunzi said. "He would take my dad shopping and my mom to the doctor's office. He was very family-oriented."
Much to the delight of his niece and nephew, Christina and Vincent Frunzi, Mr. Pesce was always buying them toys.
"He loved to go shopping for them," Mrs. Frunzi said, adding that Vincent was also Mr. Pesce's godson. "That's all he ever did."
Mr. Pesce also enjoyed computers, "Star Trek" and cars.
"He never bought a new car, but he was always talking about them," Mrs. Frunzi said. He was saving up to buy a Ford Taurus.
Born in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn, Mr. Pesce moved to Eltingville in 1986.
He was a parishioner of Holy Child R.C. Church, Eltingville.
Mr. Pesce received an associate's degree in business from the College of Staten Island and began his career with Cantor Fitzgerald in June 1993, starting out in the mailroom.
In addition to his sister, Angela, his brother-in-law, Mark, and his niece and nephew, Christina and Vincent, Mr. Pesce is survived by his parents, Chiara and Paul, and his brother, Frank.
