2996 Project: In Memoriam: Nicholas G. Massa

It has been said that Nicholas G. Massa was a betting man. He bet his life when he watched Tower I of the World Trade Center burning on September 11, 2001 from his office in Tower II, waiting on a friend before he would evacuate the building. It was an honorable bet, but one that would cost him his life.

Mr. Massa was 65 years old on that day, a seasoned veteran of the insurance industry and Senior Vice President of the Aon Corporation. He left a multitude of family and friends behind, and a grandchild that would be born two years after his death. A grandchild he would never see, a grandchild who would never meet her grandfather, who would never call him grandpa, or poppy, or pop pop, or any number of affectionate names children call their grandfathers. Instead the words hang in the air, silent, unused.

He was born on Valentine’s Day, and it seems the loving nature of that holiday spilled into his day to day life. He had time for everyone, whether they were mailroom clerks or multi-million dollar clients. He let everyone know they were special. I never knew him, but the remembrances I’ve read from people that loved him made me wish that I had.

Nicholas G. Massa isn’t an aimless, wandering ghost or a withered shade lost on Charon’s murky shores. No, he is an enlightened spirit, dancing in the realms beyond the living, where the nightingale forever sings and the odds are always in your favor.

For other memorials, go here.