Kurt Masur, who made his formal debut as the New York Philharmonic’s music director on Sept. 11, 1991, has died at age of 88, according to The New York Times. At the time of his death Saturday, he was music director emeritus of the Philharmonic and has been long credited for elevating the ensemble into a regarded and well-known orchestra, the newspaper reported. The Times said Masur’s "finest hour, and gift to the city," came on Sept. 20, 2001. Masur led the Philharmonic in a nationally televised memorial to the attack victims.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

Hanging her personalized needlepoint Christmas stocking was always a high point in Lauren Grandcolas’s holiday decorating rituals. Hers was the first made in a series of multi-generational stockings that her mother, Barbara Catuzzi, hand-crafted for her grown children and her arriving grandchildren. In the spirit of fairness, Catuzzi had placed the names of her daughters in a hat to determine whose stocking would inaugurate the project. Later, Grandcolas too would make one for her husband, Jack Grandcolas. The 2001 Christmas season was going to be especially meaningful for the couple.

Married for a decade, they were expecting their first child. In 2002, a new Christmas stocking would be decorating their mantle.

On Sept. 11, 38-year-old Grandcolas, an advertising sales consultant for Good Housekeeping magazine, was returning home to San Rafael, Calif., having flown to New Jersey to attend her grandmother’s funeral. Upon arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport earlier than expected, she decided to switch to an earlier flight, due to depart at 8 a.m., to San Francisco. She called her husband to alert him to her updated arrival plans but, given the time difference he was still in bed. She boarded United Flight 93 and took her seat in row 11. From the passenger cabin, Grandcolas managed to place another call recorded on the couple’s home answering machine after the aircraft had been hijacked. With extraordinary calm and careful wording, she informed her husband that "we’re having a little problem on the plane; I’m totally fine. I love you more than anything; just know that." 

 After her death, her husband donated her beloved Christmas stocking in her memory to the 9/11 Memorial Museum. 

By Jan Ramirez, 9/11 Memorial Museum Chief Curator and Vice President of Collections

Update (12/10):  In recent days the potential reauthorization of the Zadroga Act, which would provide permanent funding for health care programs treating those affected by the 9/11 events, has been in the national spotlight. The New York Daily News labels the reauthorization effort as has having taken a strong step forward.

As part of its commitment to record the continuing impacts of the 2001 attacks, the 9/11 Memorial Museum is providing more information about the physical and mental health consequences linked to the attacks and their aftermath. To help build awareness of the plight of ailing 9/11 survivors, rescuers, and recovery workers sickened by exposure to Ground Zero toxins, visitors to the museum will receive a brochure focused on 9/11-related illnesses.

The brochure also helps visitors locate artifacts and documentation about 9/11-related illnesses in the museum. More information and resources on efforts to ensure long-term medical benefits and compensation for those impacted are available here.  

Each year in May, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum foundation commemorates the formal end of the rescue and recovery effort at Ground Zero.  The recovery effort ended May 30, 2002.  There is also an online registry that documents participants in the rescue, recovery, investigation, cleanup and relief efforts after the terror strikes in New York City, Arlington, Va., and Somerset County, Pa.

By Anthony Guido, 9/11 Memorial Director of Communications

Before joining the security team at the 9/11 Memorial Museum, Mary Santos worked as a security guard for Summit Security at the Twin Towers. Recently, she donated the blazer she wore to her job in the South Tower to the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

On the day of the 2001 attacks, 11 of Santos’ colleagues were killed. Santos, who was off-duty on 9/11, says she intends her donation of the blazer to serve as a tribute to her fallen colleagues. She believes they could have escaped, but they instead stayed behind to help.

Santos remembers her coworkers were "like a family" and that they socialized together outside of work. The blazer represents more than the loss she and so many others suffered that day. It is also a reminder of the working lives that Santos and other security professionals built at the Twin Towers.

After admittedly struggling with survivor’s guilt following 9/11, Santos returned to the World Trade Center site to work as a security guard for the 9/11 Memorial in 2014. Here, she helps visitors and watches over artifacts in the museum’s historical exhibition. The woman who once protected the towers now stands guard over their history.

Listen to Santos talk about her blazer.

Click here to listen

By Dr. Joshua Walker, 9/11 Memorial Associate Oral Historian

Visitors to the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s Education Center on Saturday created heartfelt displays of sympathy as a response to the recent tragedy in Paris, France.

Working with materials from the non-profit New York Says Thank You, children and families decorated Stars of HOPE with French colors and imagery, such as the Eiffel Tower.

Hundreds of visitors to the 9/11 Memorial continued to show solidarity with France during a special tribute on the Memorial on Monday, according to the Wall Street Journal. The New Yorker produced a compelling video, talking with several attendees to the tribute event. WNBC talked with visitors, 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels and captured the laying of flowers at the Survivor Tree.

By Anthony Guido, 9/11 Memorial Director of Communications