11 Women Who Have Done Amazing Things For 9/11 Remembrance

Women & Business

11 Women Who Have Done Amazing Things For 9/11 Remembrance

4:30 pm, September 11th | by Sarah Devlin

It’s strange to think that eleven years have passed since the terrorist attacks in New York City that changed the way we looked at just about everything. In the ensuing years there has been a great deal of debate over what to do with the World Trade Center site, how the tragedy has changed our political discourse, and what the event itself means in the larger context of history. Some of this debate has been ugly (Ground Zero mosque, anyone?) and some of the rebuilding process has been slow, but in the meantime, scores of Americans have come together to help the country rebuild and heal. Here are seven women who stand out for their particular commitment and service.

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1.Kathleen, Maureen, and Colleen Lynch

Kathleen, Colleen, and Maureen Lynch (who is now Maureen Baker) help to run the Michael Lynch Memorial Foundation, which was founded in honor of their brother, a firefighter who died on 9/11. Together with their four brothers, they perform such tasks as writing the foundation's bylaws, incorporating the foundation, and reviewing the incoming scholarship applications. The Michael Lynch Memorial Foundation is one of only a few such organizations that has continued to expand while being run almost solely by family members.

2.Edie Lutnick

Edie's brother Howard Lutnick, who ran the financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald out of 1 World Trade Center, was one of the lucky survivors of the 9/11 attacks. He pledged to dedicate 25% of the company's profits to the families of 9/11 victims over the next five years — and hired his sister Edie, a lawyer, to administer the fund, one of the largest corporate philanthropic ventures of its kind.

3.Soledad O'Brien

Soledad O'Brien was the host of "Beyond Bravery," a documentary produced by CNN to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11. O'Brien noted that the documentary's title reflected "the attitude and the strength exhibited that day ten Septembers ago. It [signified] the actions of first responders, civilians, victims and heroes — male and female alike — who found themselves dealing with the type of situation for which no one can truly fully prepare."

4.Julie Beckman

Julie Beckman, together with her husband Keith Kaseman, submitted the winning design proposal for the 9/11 Pentagon memorial. Beckman and Kaseman, who met in graduate school in New York City, were in the city on the day of the attacks. Beckman said of their submission, "We didn't submit an idea to win. We submitted an idea to come to terms with our own grief and our own understanding of what happened that day...If we could just submit an idea that was either talked about for ten seconds or ten minutes, we felt that was an appropriate means of contributing."

5.Elisabeth Hasselbeck

Like her or not, Hasselbeck has always been consistent in her concern, admiration and support for American troops and 9/11 first responders. On September 10th she ran the West Point Remembrance 5k, tweeting a photo of the participants (and noting that she made her kids run, too).

6.Terri Tobin, Regina Wilson, Brenda Berkman, Carey Policastro, and their fellow female 9/11 first responders

More than anyone else, however, the women who were first on the scene on September 11, 2001, many of whom were featured in CNN's "Beyond Bravery," deserve all the support and consideration in the world on this day and all their days going forward. We can't think of an image more fitting to symbolize the heroism and sheer willpower of those first responders than that of Terri Tobin, with a "huge glass pane lodged in her back and [a cut from a cinder block on] her skull," holding on to an injured man at the scene, telling him "I'm with the NYPD. I'm not gonna let go."