Tribute to Isaias
CBS Vet, Evangelical Pastor
The Independent
The Independent - Relatives
The Independent - Relatives
Certifications received by Isaias Rivera
Isaias was very involved with his community
With Love, for you...
CBS pays tribute
For you...
In Memoriam of Isaias Rivera
The Governor's Award - New York Emmys
The Governor's Award - New York Emmys
The Governor's Award - New York Emmys
Nilsa Rivera pays tribute to her husband Isaias
Nilsa Rivera pays tribute to her husband Isaias
Isaias mentored his community's youth. He used to say he had a vision of all his students under his roof at once, together with each other, with God. This happened after his death. They packed the house. His dream came true.
The Healing Heart Project is a nationwide collaborative artwork create din response to 9/11. Third year anniversary of 9/11.
Lynette's perspective as a daughter who lost her father on 9/11.
Tribute to Isaias Rivera
Isaias Rivera along 5 others, was commemorated with the 2002 Veteran Wireless Operators Association Award for his dedicated career to radio communication.
NAHJ raises s funds Isaias Rivera's children. Isaias was born in Puerto Rico.
NAHJ raises s funds Isaias Rivera's children. Isaias was born in Puerto Rico.
Fun at Comfort Zone Camp
From our hearts to yours...
Member of the Comfort Zone Camp
Isaias' family share flowers and pay tribute to him
Isaias' family pays their respects
Fun at work
All suited up
Isaias' family member at CZC
Young Isaias Rivera
Isaias was a devoted family man who enjoyed spending time with his family.
Holiday party
Isaias and his family
The Rivera Family
Isaias and Nilsa tie the knot
Isaias' son and grandson
Family fun
Isaias' family receives an Emmy on his behalf
Isaias and his daughter Lynette
Isaias was a devoted family man. He fathered a daughter and three sons.
Comfort Zone Camp in the news
Newspaper interviews Isaias' wife
Nilsa looks for her husband Isaias in 2001
Comfort Zone Camp in the news
Looking for Isaias Rivera - CNN
Relatives search for their loved ones
Isaias' stepson Pedro Lopez is interviewed on September 12th.
Newspaper article
Isaias' daughter Lynette is interviewed for a town newspaper
Town resident honors Isaias Rivera
Family interviewed for local newspaper
Missing person shirt
Missing person t-shirt for Isaias
Quilt for Isaias Rivera
In loving memory of Isaias Rivera, 1950-2001
The Healing Heart Project
Looking for Isaias Rivera
Isaias' daughter Lynette receives postcard expressing condolences for her father's death. Artwork by Isabella Disabato, 5 years old.
Isaias' daughter Lynette receives postcard expressing condolences for her father's death. Artwork by Isabella Disabato, 5 years old.
Memorial Service Program for Isaias Rivera, October 24, 2001
Empty Sky: NJ State 9/11 Memorial
Boston Public Garden 9/11 Memorial
Conseleya 9/11 Memorial
Dewitt 9/11 Memorial
Montclair State University 9/11 Memorial
East Newark 9/11 Memorial
Fair Haven 9/11 Memorial
Freehold Township 9/11 Living Memorial Tree Grove
Crescent Beach Park - Flagpole/Memorial for 9/11 Victims
Ivan Delgado is a child psychiatrist in Iowa. Nitza Hollinger is a lawyer in Alaska. Judith Cruz is a surgery technician in upstate New York. Pedro Garcia is a policeman in Washington, D.C.
All of them grew up in Spanish Harlem.
None of them would be where they are, they said, if not for Isaias Rivera. Mr. Rivera, then in his early 20s, taught teens the Bible and clean living at Hispana Pentecostal Church.
"Those were mean streets, man," Hollinger said. "To see a good, clean teen just kind of says I don't have to go the route of everybody else in Harlem. And we did it, we made it -- so many of us."
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 -- when the 51-year-old Mr. Rivera was at work as a maintenance engineer at the CBS transmitter on the 110th floor of One World Trade Center -- former students poured into his Perth Amboy house from across the country.
"We call ourselves Isaias' children," said Cruz, now 39.
Cruz became a magnet for the wrong boys in her early teens. Her school attendance became shaky. Mr. Rivera was a relentless nag.
"He kept on me and on me. He always said that I was made for great things, that even though I was Spanish and I was a minority, in God's eyes there are no minorities," Cruz said. "He was annoying."
Now Cruz has a home, a husband, two kids and a good job.
"Isaias knew me as little Judy, always in trouble," she said, gently weeping. "Well you know what, little Judy grew up okay."
Among young Delgado's weaknesses were drugs. Then 15, he joined an informal group of teens that would hang out in Mr. Rivera's apartment after church, eat bread and coffee, talk religion and laugh a lot.
Delgado straightened out and set off on a path that would lead through the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx.
He ran into Mr. Rivera at a church service a few months after graduating.
"You're a doctor now!" his mentor said, sporting that familiar, infectious smile and bursting with pride.
Mr. Rivera used to say he had a vision -- all his students under his roof at once, together with each other, with God.
It happened after his death. They packed the house, hundreds strong, their own children in tow.
"His dream came true," Cruz said. "All the young people he had ministered to were in his house. But he wasn't there."
New York Times Portraits of Grief
In the very same perilous aerie, the 110th-floor television transmission center atop the north tower, Isaias Rivera had lived through it before: the explosion, the smoke, the desperate evacuation.
As a technician for CBS, Isaias, 51, had been in the center on Feb. 26, 1993, when a bomb went off in the basement. Besides trying to keep WCBS on the air, he also helped in the rescue efforts, working until the next day, recalled William Rodriguez, whose daughter was Isaias's godchild. Isaias had five children of his own and lived in Perth Amboy, N.J. His wife, Nilsa, is a nurse.
Isaias was employed by CBS for 30 years, Mr. Rodriguez said, and was the last veteran of the 1993 bombing still stationed on the 110th floor. ''He wasn't the same person after that,'' Mr. Rodriguez said. ''He had fears of those things happening again.''
These profiles were written by Diane Cardwell, Glenn Collins, David W. Dunlap, Leslie Eaton, Robin Finn, Winnie Hu, Andrew Jacobs, Dean E. Murphy and Barbara Stewart.
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