When Andrew Friedman's wife was planning his memorial service in Woodbury, on Long Island, she called the local police to ask for help directing the traffic because she had a feeling a lot of people would attend.

The police thought Lisa Friedman was overreacting. But as it turned out, more than 2,000 people showed up to remember Mr. Friedman, 44, vice president for institutional equities trading at Carr Futures. His life had been filled with friends he had known from the age of 6, college friends, work friends and neighborhood friends.

"He was the glue that held everybody together," said Ms. Friedman, who met her husband at a bar in TriBeCa when she was in college. (The two easily spotted one another, as he was 6 foot 4 and she 6 foot 1, although they always disagreed over which one of them had approached the other.)

What struck many people about Mr. Friedman, who coached several boys' sports teams on Long Island, was how much he loved children, especially his 11-year-old twin boys, Michael and Daniel. He was also known for his laid-back ways and his "Andrewisms," sayings that only he could devise. One was his definition of a balanced meal: "An Italian hero cut in half."