Mark and New York Athletic Club Rugby Team
Mark posing with his rugby teammates
Portrait of young Mark Ludvigsen
Portrait of Mark Ludvigsen
Poem dedicated to Mark
Back of Mark's funeral thank you card
A letter from Mark's friend Kurt Shuman
Picture of Mark Ludvigsen in tux and kilt
Mark with WTC twin towers in the background
Family picture of Mark Ludvigsen
Mark posing with his friends
Mark Ludvigsen dances with his mother, Christina
Picture of young Mark and his sister
Mark posing with his sister
Queen Elizabeth II September 11 Memorial Garden
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
Garrison Elementary School American Patriot Garden
Squid. Lud. Flanders.
Mark Ludvigsen bore many nicknames in his short life.
Squid, in high school, because he was small.
Lud, in college and into the workplace, because Lud was more descriptively fitting of the six-foot-four recreational rugby player that Ludvigsen developed into.
Flanders because even as a bond trader at the boutique investment banking firm of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc., Ludvigsen remained the nicest guy anyone could ever meet. Just like Ned Flanders of The Simpsons fame.
New York Times Portraits of Grief
Within days, the news went out in e-mail messages across the world of rugby. Mark Ludvigsen, a driving force behind the New York Athletic Club Rugby Team, had been lost in the World Trade Center.
Mark, known to many friends as "Lud," was a 32-year-old bond salesman at Keefe, Bruyette and Woods. He was one of three members of the same firm who played on the New York City rugby team. All three died in the attack.
Mr. Ludvigsen not only carried his weight at his second-row position, but he formed a recruiting network in which he befriended players from around the world, helping them get visas and find employment so they could pursue rugby in New York.
"Everybody was drawn to him," said Mr. Ludvigsen's wife, Maureen Kelly. "He was amazing on and off the field."
That is apparent from the messages that have flowed from rugby players in Sydney, London, and elsewhere. In one, a player from Dublin tried to capture Mr. Ludvigsen's influence by quoting George Bernard Shaw. "I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community," the message says, "and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do whatever I can."
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