Bank That Lost 66 Employees On 9/11 Has Now Sent 54 Children To College

On September 11th 2001 83 employees of the investment banking firm Sandler O'Neill & Partners were working a normal work day on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center's south tower. Sixty-six of those people were killed in the terrorist attacks. Those 66 men and women had 76 children.

After the attacks when the nation started to rebuild, the leaders at Sandler O'Neill set up a foundation to pay college tuition for all the children of their fallen employees. According to Oregon Live, 54 children have had their college tuition paid so far. There's still 22 children still eligible.

The 54 who are attending or have attended college have gone to every sort of college imaginable — from Stanford to Notre Dame to community colleges and technical institutes. Four students have attended Boston College, the alma mater of Welles Crowther, the 24-year-old Sandler O'Neill employee who saved as many as 12 people from death in the south tower before running back upstairs to save more people and never being seen again."

The youngest child eligible for tuition funds is 13. This child was born six weeks after 9/11. When that child graduates from college, foundation will cease to exist.

What a beautiful memory it will be.