|
|
Douglas F. DiStefano, 24, of Hoboken, New Jersey.
DiSTEFANO-Douglas F., of West Islip, LI. Recently of Hoboken, New Jersey on September 11, 2001 at The World Trade Center, New York City. Cherished son of Frank and Sharon. Loving brother of Ann DiStefano and David DiStefano. Adored grandson of Pete and Joan Zabielski. Memorial visitation at The Fredrick J. Chapey & Sons West Islip Funeral Home, 1225 Montauk Highway (1/4 mile west of Robert Moses Cswy.) Memorial Mass Monday, September 24, 2001, 11:15 am at St. Patrick's RC Church, 235 Glen Street, Glen Cove, NY 11542. Memorial visitation at Funeral Home Sunday, September 23, 2001, 2-5pm and 7-9pm. In lieu of flowers, you may make a donation to a disaster relief fund of your choice.
Januray 1, 2002
It simply seemed impossible. As Sharon DiStefano watched fire pouring from Tower One, she remembered only too well where her son, Douglas DiStefano, worked - on the 105th floor at Cantor Fitzgerald.
But still, she couldn't believe that "the lover of the family," her "cute little chubby baby," was gone.
"I just kept expecting the phone to ring," she said. "I was expecting to hear the greatest escape story ever told."
The remains of DiStefano, 24, have not yet been found.
It's still hard to believe he's gone, his mother said. The last time she saw her son was two days before the attacks, and he was his usual vibrant self.
"Every time he would see me, I would get a big bear hug," said his mother, of Coram. "With Douglas, everything was always a little bit bigger, a little bit brighter, you know? That's just how he was."
DiStefano had started his job as an energy trader at Cantor just weeks before the attacks. After graduating from college in 2000, DiStefano had been working with his brother at Prebon Energy in Hoboken, N.J. He was elated about the move to Cantor and loved working at what he called "the best address in the world."
He seemed to be truly coming into his own as an adult. Although he grew up in West Islip, DiStefano had made Hoboken his home and filled in as a bartender at Hobsons, the Hoboken bar where he sometimes worked weekends. He lived with two roommates just blocks from his older brother, David, 28. The neighborhood became even cozier the weekend before the attacks, when his younger sister, Ann, 22, moved into an apartment within the same few blocks.
His mother remembers him rhapsodizing about his daily forays into Manhattan. "He would tell me, 'Ma - the bars and the restaurants and the women ... ' He was just having a ball."
And, she added, "He was just beginning. Just beginning. He had just gotten over all the hard things - being a teenager, going to college, all the papers, all the work, finals, having people grade you and tell you where to go and what to do ... He had finally gotten to the point in his life where he could be his own person.
"And he didn't get to enjoy it," she said. "I just wish he had got a chance to enjoy it."
-- Indrani Sen (Newsday)
January 22, 2002
Things were beginning to click for Douglas DiStefano.
He had been working as a trader trainee at Prebon Energy in Jersey City, a job he got with the help of his brother David, who worked there. It was not high pay as yet, so he also tended bar at Hobson's Bar and Grill in Hoboken, where he lived.
There he met Robert Wayne Hobson, who had quit his stockbroker's job to start Hobson's but had returned to Wall Street in 1999 and was working at Cantor Fitzgerald. He helped Mr. DiStefano become a commodities broker there. Mr. DiStefano, 24, began in August, and had not even cashed his second paycheck by Sept. 11. Mr. Hobson, too, perished in the attack.
Mr. DiStefano felt the World Trade Center was the best address in the world, and it was proving an effective lure for women. "He said it worked much better on the girls," David DiStefano said. "Saying 'I work in Jersey City' didn't go over as well as 'I work at the top of the World Trade Center.'"
One thing Douglas DiStefano had always been really proud of was his high school football team in West Islip — he was an offensive lineman — winning the Long Island championship. He became equally thrilled about the Cantor job. He was talking about getting a new apartment, buying a car. "The toughest part is he was just turning the corner," his brother said. "He was just making it."
NY Times
View/sign Douglas DiStefano's Guest Book provided by the New York Times.
