Sean P. Lynch

Strivers, Like Their Parents
Whatever their achievements, the Lynch boys were products of their upbringing. The children of Irish immigrants, Sean P. Lynch and his brother Farrell P. Lynch were strivers like their parents.

"They never forgot where they were from," said their sister, Ellen Lynch. Growing up in a family of seven in a two- bedroom house ‹ "all the boys slept in the attic," she said ‹ they were a tight-knit group, and as adults with families, they often gathered in that same house, where their parents still live, for traditional Irish breakfasts.

The brothers both worked at Cantor Fitzgerald; Sean Lynch was an interest rate options broker and Farrell Lynch, who had worked there long enough to be around for the 1993 bombing, was a partner.

Farrell Lynch lived on Long Island with his wife, Eileen, and daughters Katie, 13, Meghan, 11, and Annie, 7. The couple met as sophomores in high school, and they were looking forward to their 15th anniversary this month. Farrell Lynch also looked forward to a day when he could retire and coach high school basketball, said his wife. "He wanted to get into coaching one day ‹ that was his dream. Simple, but that's what he wanted," she said.

Sean Lynch, 36, lived in Morristown, N.J., with his wife, Lori, and daughters Mary, 3, and Grace, 17 months. "He was a very thoughtful person," said his wife. "He was already saying to Mary, 'Be kind to your sister; always treat people well.' "


Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on November 24, 2001.


Sean Patrick Lynch, Stockbroker made time for family and fun Devotion to family, getting a good education and staying active in sports were the hallmarks of the life of Sean Patrick Lynch.

Though he left for his job at the World Trade Center in New York at 5 a.m. each day, he made sure he'd be back home in Morris Township at 6:15 p.m. on the dot most evenings to be with his wife and two young daughters, Mary and Grace.

In his spare time, the 36-year-old interest rate options broker at Cantor Fitzgerald Securities played golf and basketball, skied, swam and followed the Knicks, Mets and Jets. A 1987 graduate of Cornell University with an MBA from New York University, he also loved reading.

"He read everything," said his wife, Lori Lynch. "Forbes, Barron's, Sports Illustrated, Tom Clancy, anything by Warren Buffett, biographies of U.S. presidents. You name it, he loved to read it."

Mr. Lynch was working on the 105th floor of One World Trade Center when a hijacked plane hit the building Sept. 11. Also working for Cantor Fitzgerald on the same floor was Mr. Lynch's older brother, Farrell Lynch of Centerport, N.Y., who also is missing.

Farrell, the oldest of four Lynch brothers, was a Cantor Fitzgerald partner assigned to the collateralized mortgage obligation desk. Like Sean, he was an athlete, playing for Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y., that made it to the Division III national basketball tournament one year. He, too, later took up golf. Married and the father of three girls, Farrell Lynch coached CYO basketball and soccer.

Lori Lynch said it was purely coincidental the brothers came to be employed at the same time in the same place. But it wasn't coincidental they had good jobs. Their parents, immigrants from Ireland, worked long hours to make certain their five children could be educated in private schools and be successful.

Mr. Lynch grew up in a two-bedroom house in Merrick, N.Y., sharing a converted attic with his three brothers.

The year after graduating from Cornell, he took a broker's position in Jersey City with Prebon Yamane, an international money firm. Also a broker, Lori Lynch sat next to him there and was attracted to his Irish wit, depth of character and sense of family. They married in 1996. Mr. Lynch joined Cantor Fitzgerald in 1998.

Mr. Lynch never expressed any fears about working in the upper reaches of the World Trade Center, site of a terrorist bombing in 1993. But his wife said he had begun voicing reservations about rarely getting outside during the day.

"He'd just mentioned to me the week before that all he ever saw at work were clouds, never any grass," said Lori Lynch, who's expecting their third child in November. "He couldn't walk down the stairs to get some air because that would have taken 20 minutes."

To Greg Kaufman, a resident of Princeton and a financial consultant with Merrill Lynch in Short Hills, Mr. Lynch's most endearing characteristic was his infectious laugh. The two were members of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Cornell and remained close.

"Even if what he was laughing at wasn't that funny, you'd want to laugh with Sean," said Kaufman. "He was very popular."

Mr. Lynch also made it a practice to stay in touch with old friends, sometimes disguising his voice to keep them guessing about his identity until he could spring his surprise, Kaufman added.

In addition to his wife and daughters, Mr. Lynch is survived by his parents, Farrell and Rosetta Lynch of Merrick; two brothers, Brian of Bellmore, N.Y., and Kieran of Wilton, Conn.; and a sister, Ellen Lynch Miszkiewicz of Summit.

A memorial Mass is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday at the Church of the Assumption in Morristown, where Mr. Lynch was a communicant.