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Russell Smith (not verified)

September 12, 2022

I Was there, I helped in his Recovery.

Posted by Russell Smith

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In Remembrance
Age:
40
Place of Residence:
Cranbury, NJ
Location on 9/11:
Two WTC
Occupation:
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods | Chief Financial Officer
Hobbies and Special Interests:
Golf
Reading
Music
Biography:

After Jeffrey L. Fox was lost in the World Trade Center attacks, his widow received a letter from a woman who had been a classmate of her husband more than two decades ago.

"She had gone to school with Jeffrey in the seventh grade," said Nancy Bayuk Fox. "She proceeded to describe this person, and I thought, 'Oh, my God, this is Jeffrey to a T. This is the man I married.'"

For Nancy Fox, it said a lot about her husband, a caring man with a dry sense of humor. The father of three, he was the chief financial officer at Keefe Bruyette & Woods, an investment banking firm.

"He was true; he did not wear a different hat for different people," his wife said. "People who knew him even in the seventh grade knew the same Jeff that I knew."

Jeffrey and Nancy Fox met through friends. Born in the Bronx, Fox was raised in Kings Park. He graduated from SUNY Albany in 1982. His wife is from Garden City.

For weeks after Sept. 11, letters from Fox's classmates, colleagues and friends continued to arrive.

"I don't think he realized how many lives he touched. I don't think he knew the difference he made in some people's lives," his wife said. "What I've learned since this happened is, he used to talk about us all the time. We gave him a lot of joy."

Fox, who was 41, and his wife had three children: twin daughters Jessica and Amanda, 13, and a son, Gregory, 8.

Weekends were always spent with his family, who live in Plainsboro, N.J. Fox enjoyed puttering around the house and the family outings to eastern Long Island, as well as playing tennis and golf or catch with his son.

Fox's office was on the 89th floor of the south tower at the World Trade Center. When the north tower was struck, he called his wife on her cell phone and told her he was OK.

"He said, 'I got to go,' and that was it," his wife said.

Minutes later, she heard on the radio that the second tower had been hit by a hijacked jetliner.

"At that point, I just felt like I knew," she said. "You know what, there was not a day that went by that I didn't tell him how much I loved him. And I'm grateful for that."

-- Rhoda Amon