Beverly Eckert (May 29, 1951 – February 12, 2009) was an American activist and advocate for the creation of the
9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks", includin ...
. She was one of the members of the
9/11 Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Commission. Eckert's husband, Sean Rooney, died at age 50 in the
attacks of September 11, 2001
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Suicide attack, suicide List of terrorist incidents, terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, ...
. She pushed for a commission to investigate 9/11 and to establish a
memorial
A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...
.
Eckert died at age 57 on February 12, 2009, in the crash of
Colgan Air Flight 3407
Colgan Air Flight 3407 (marketed as Continental Connection Flight 3407 under a codeshare agreement with Continental Airlines), was a scheduled passenger flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo, New York, which crashed on February 12, 2009. Th ...
in
Clarence Center, New York
Clarence Center is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Clarence in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 2,257 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. ...
. She had met with
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
just a few days before her death in her role as an advocate for those affected by 9/11.
Before the September 11 attack
Eckert was born in 1951 in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
to Raymond and Helen Makarowski Eckert, and met her future husband, Sean P. Rooney, at a dance at
Canisius High School
Canisius High School is a Catholic, private college-preparatory school for young men run by the USA Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus in Buffalo, New York, United States, just north of the Delaware Avenue Historic District. Founded in 1 ...
, a Jesuit-run academy in that city, when both were 16 years old. Eckert attended the
Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart
Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity private high school for young women located in Eggertsville, New York, United States. It is operated independent of the Roman Catholic ...
, an all-girls high school in
Eggertsville, New York
Eggertsville is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the town of Amherst in Erie County, New York, United States. The population of the CDP was 15,019 at the 2010 census.
Eggertsville is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Me ...
. She received a degree in fine arts in 1975 from
Buffalo State College
The State University of New York College at Buffalo (colloquially referred to as Buffalo State College, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo State, or simply Buff State) is a public college in Buffalo, New York. It is part of the State University of Ne ...
, where in 2005 she gave the Baccalaureate Commencement Address. Rooney lived in Buffalo until 1978, working as a manager of restaurants, until he began working in the financial services industry and moving to Massachusetts, New Jersey and Connecticut. When he died he was a vice president for risk management services at the
Aon Corporation
Aon PLC () is a British-American multinational financial services firm that sells a range of risk-mitigation products, including Commercial Risk, Investment, Wealth and Reinsurance solutions, as well as boutique strategy consulting through Aon ...
. He worked on the 98th floor of the World Trade Center's south tower, one of 32 employees in Aon's offices there.
The couple, who had no children and lived in the
Glenbrook section of
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...
, had been married 21 years when Rooney died. Before Rooney's death, they had celebrated their 50th birthdays with vacations to
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
, to mark his, and
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
, to mark hers.
[
]
September 11, 2001
When the planes hit the World Trade Center
World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association.
World Trade Center may refer to:
Buildings
* List of World Trade Centers
* World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
, Rooney called his wife and exchanged voice mail messages with her. To get to safety, he made his way to the 105th floor of his building, trying to reach the roof, when he became trapped until the tower collapsed, killing him.[
After Eckert learned about the attacks, she went home and stayed on the phone with her husband until she heard the tower collapse. She described the incident in a ]StoryCorps
StoryCorps is an American non-profit organization whose mission is to record, preserve, and share the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs. StoryCorps grew out of Sound Portraits Productions as a project founded in 2003 by radio ...
interview.[Potts, Monica and Martin Cassidy]
"Neighbors: 'For this to happen just seems unreal': 'A deeply felt loss' among neighbors in Stamford"
article, February 14, 2009, '' The Advocate'' of Stamford, Connecticut, retrieved same day.
After September 11
Eckert became a leading activist among 9/11 victims' families, joining with others in lobbying for creation of the 9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks", includin ...
, improvements to national security, and for creation of a memorial at the World Trade Center site. In pressing federal elected officials to do a better job in protecting Americans from terrorism, she was among a number of 9/11 victims' family members active in pressing for sweeping reforms of U.S. intelligence.[Silva, Mark]
"Beverly Eckert: Crash victim, 9/11 widow"
blog post, February 13, 2009, ''The Swamp'' blog of the ''Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'', retrieved February 14, 2009. She also spoke in opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.[
Eckert was the co-chairperson of the group Voices of September 11.
Locally, Eckert worked with Stamford city officials on various memorial projects. She left her job at ]General Re
General Reinsurance Corporation is an American multinational property/casualty and life/health reinsurance company offering a range of reinsurance products and services. The company is a primarily direct reinsurer and is represented in all major ...
and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...
and, beginning in September 2008, as a tutor at the Julia A. Stark Elementary School. She was also a member of the Glenbrook Neighborhood Association. In honor of her husband and other victims, Eckert planted birch trees near a trail in Cove Island Park
Cove Island Park is an 83-acre park, beach and recreation area in the Cove section of Stamford, Connecticut, located on Long Island Sound.
Access to the park requires a parking pass. The city's Park Commission charges Stamford residents with ...
where she and Rooney learned to in-line skate. At the Glenbrook train station, where her husband commuted to work, she commissioned a mural and planted a sycamore tree as a memorial. Shortly before her death, she joined a neighborhood association committee to improve the station.[
On December 19, 2003, Eckert published her famous manifesto, "My Silence Cannot be Bought:"]I've chosen to go to court rather than accept a payoff from the 9/11 victims compensation fund. Instead, I want to know what went so wrong with our intelligence and security systems that a band of religious fanatics was able to turn four U.S passenger jets into an enemy force, attack our cities and kill 3,000 civilians with terrifying ease. I want to know why two 110-story skyscrapers collapsed in less than two hours and why escape and rescue options were so limited. . . . The victims fund was not created in a spirit of compassion. Rather, it was a tacit acknowledgement by Congress that it tampered with our civil justice system in an unprecedented way. . . . So I say to Congress, big business and everyone who conspired to divert attention from government and private-sector failures: My husband's life was priceless, and I will not let his death be meaningless. My silence cannot be bought.
Death
Eckert was killed on February 12, 2009, in the crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407
Colgan Air Flight 3407 (marketed as Continental Connection Flight 3407 under a codeshare agreement with Continental Airlines), was a scheduled passenger flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo, New York, which crashed on February 12, 2009. Th ...
outside of Buffalo, New York. She was traveling to Buffalo for a gathering with her family to mark what would have been Rooney's 58th birthday on February 15. A ceremony had also been scheduled at Canisius High School
Canisius High School is a Catholic, private college-preparatory school for young men run by the USA Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus in Buffalo, New York, United States, just north of the Delaware Avenue Historic District. Founded in 1 ...
in which she was to award a student with a memorial scholarship in Rooney's honor.
A week before her death, Eckert met with U.S. President Barack Obama, to discuss detainees at Guantanamo Bay and other matters.[Vogel, Charity, , article, February 14, 2009, '']The Buffalo News
''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York. It recently sold its headquarters to Uniland Development Corp. It was for decades the only paper fully owned by W ...
'', retrieved same day In a press conference after her death, Obama described her as a "tireless advocate for the families, those whose lives were forever changed on that September day."
On June 18, 2009, Margot Eckert, executor of her sister's estate, filed a lawsuit in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
, against Colgan Air
Colgan Air was an American certificated regional airline subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corp. The headquarters of Colgan Air were located in Memphis, Tennessee.
Colgan Air operated for Continental Express/United Express, and US Airways Expre ...
, Pinnacle Air and Continental Airlines
Continental Airlines, simply known as Continental, was a major United States airline founded in 1934 and eventually headquartered in Houston, Texas. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers.
Continental started o ...
, claiming they were responsible for the crash.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eckert, Beverly
Accidental deaths in New York (state)
American activists
Crime victim advocates
People associated with the September 11 attacks
People from Buffalo, New York
People from Stamford, Connecticut
Buffalo State College alumni
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States
1951 births
2009 deaths