Cantor Fitzgerald's Response to 9/11 Tragedy

center. The head of Cantor Fitzgerald, Harold Lutnick, just happened to be out of

the office that day that the terrorists struck.

Mr. Lutnick was taking his son to his first day of kindergarten.

Now he says he has

a very different view of business and life.

He spoke to our business correspondent Terry Keenan earlier today.

We are really focused on trying to make sure that our 700 families who lost

a member of their family are taken care of and so

I spent the day yesterday and part of the day in talking to our insurance company.

Our insurance company, CNA, told me that they would,

well they told our guys, they didn't tell me, and then they told me that

they were willing to treat this as an accidental death

which means that they would double the

policy for all of my victims upstairs and all of us and so that added

35 million dollars,

35 million dollars to that group upstairs,

but the sad thing is so 35 million dollars sounds like so much money but

if you divide it by 700 people it's only 50 000 dollars.

It's not enough to,

so that's why we need to work on our foundation.

Yeah and you've set up that foundation,

we'll give the information to our viewers.

Explain the needs of these young families.

Many of your traders were just in their 30s.

We've got the average employee we have is around 33 years old so they've got,

they're just married.

We have probably a dozen women who are pregnant with babies who just

lost their husbands. We've got lots and lots and lots and lots.

We must have more than a thousand children,

1 500 children who've now lost one of their parents and they've

lost their breadwinner that makes all the money so we are dedicated to

raising money for our foundation which will go to take care of

and try to help the victims of this horrible tragedy and try to make their lives

a little easier whether that pays for health insurance for

a long, long time or gets them some extra money or makes their lives even this much

easier. I mean that's what we're doing,

that's what we're driving for and it's called the Cantor Fitzgerald Foundation and

anyone who can make a donation to it is going to help a lot of people who really,

really need it.

And just finally you know it was just you know the accident of

timing and luck on your part

that you weren't in the building and I know some of the other survivors here.

How do you feel it must you know tear you in so many different directions?

You know I don't know why I'm alive.

I not only was I, I didn't get to the building

early enough so that I wasn't in it but

then I stood outside at the door helping people out and telling them come

on get out get out and asking what floor they were on trying to find the higher and

higher floor so that I could hopefully find someone coming down from 101 so that

that meant our guys and our women had survived but you know I'm standing under the

building when the number two collapses and and I'm just I'm just lucky to be alive

and I don't know why I am but you

know what I'm just thankful and it must be because I've got the

responsibility to try to my best for for this group of 700 families

700 families and I'm just I'm just one of them.

I lost I lost my brother my sister's here which is part of the family and

you know that's my responsibility and I'm and I'm going to do

my best and my fantastic employees at Canter and East Speed and Trade Spark they're

doing their best to support these guys and that's what's driving them and you

know I think they're heroes they're really they're really all heroes.