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In Remembrance
Age:
35
Place of Residence:
Weehawken, NJ
Location on 9/11:
One WTC
Occupation:
Marsh & McLennan | Consultant
Hobbies and Special Interests:
Canoeing
Boy Scouts
Flying
Biography:

Peter A. Klein died in the Sept. 11 terror attacks at age 35, practicing his trade as a computer programming consultant.

He was working at Marsh & McLennan Cos., a professional services firm in the World Trade Center on the north tower's 86th floor.

His father, Hans Klein of Salt Point, was packed and ready to fly to Europe when he got the call from Peter's wife, Lorena, after the planes struck.

"She could not get a hold of him," he said. "There was no answer."

It was 20 days of waiting before they gave up hope that he would be found alive. It was on May 1, 2002, that word came that authorities had confirmed his death.

He left behind his father; his mother, Ruth; sisters Lisa, Anne Margaret and Diana; plus aunts, uncles, a nephew, and other relatives.

Peter was born May 2, 1966. He graduated from Arlington High School in 1984, where he played in the marching band and got interested in computers. His first machine was a TRS-80. He graduated from Clarkson University in 1987. He worked for IBM Corp. and won a patent. He left to start a career in New York.

Within two months after the attacks, his father built a flagpole and began raising the banner.

"I wore out one flag already. This is my second one," he said recently.

Hans Klein learned about terror long before it took the life of his son.

Hans was only 7 and living in Serbia, Yugoslavia, when he got a taste of war at the hands of the Tito Partisans, the communists who took over during World War II.

"They came at 6 a.m. in the morning and they told us you have to go with us," he said. He and his family, who were of German descent and thus targets in Serbia wound up in a concentration camp in Molidorf for three years until one night, they escaped into Hungary. He later emigrated to America to start a new life.

Hans Klein still raises the American flag daily to the memory of Peter.