Thomas J. Cahill

A Crowded 37 Years
Thomas Cahill knew his father, Jim, really wanted to win a recent golf tournament at the Metedeconk National Golf Club in Jackson, N.J. But that did not keep him from having some fun. He stuck a chunky cigar in his mouth, winked at the caddy and nonchalantly told his father: "Don't worry, big guy. It's all under control."

Then the younger Mr. Cahill sank the ball into a hole about 14 feet away. The Cahills, father and son, took home a trophy that day.

A natural athlete, the younger Mr. Cahill had skied in Utah and Colorado, trolled for fish in the Bahamas and putted on all the golf courses in Ireland by the time he was 37. He worked as a securities trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, and lived near his family in Franklin Lakes, N.J.

"He enjoyed life," said his mother, Kathleen. "And he fit an awful lot in during his 37 years."

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on September 30, 2001.


Thomas Cahill, 36, skier and sportsman

Whether it was skiing in Utah or deep-sea fishing off the Jersey coast, Thomas Cahill enjoyed participating in sports and met many friends through his activities.

"He was outgoing, he made friends wherever he went," James Cahill said of his 36-year-old son, a securities trader who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald for the last 10 years. Thomas Cahill has not been seen since last Tuesday's attack on the World Trade Center. He would have been 37 last week.

He was born in Teaneck and graduated from Indian Hills High School where he played tennis, a sport he continued on the varsity tennis team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he graduated in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in economics.

Thomas Cahill had a large, close-knit family and lived in Franklin Lakes, across the street from one of his sisters. He often hosted his relatives, particularly his nieces and nephew, at his swimming pool, his father said. "He was 'Uncle Tom' to everybody," his father recalled.

As a child he took up skiing, traveling with the local YMCA on bus trips to ski resorts and he improved as he grew older, taking ski trips to Utah in the wintertime, said his father.

"He was one notch below a professional," James Cahill said of his son, whose sense of adventure was evident by the way he liked to speed downhill on some of the ski trails.

Besides skiing, Mr. Cahill enjoyed golfing and completed a father/son tournament at the Metedeconk Golf Club two weeks ago. Though they didn't win, they did come in first in a section of the tournament and got to take home a trophy anyway, his father said.

Mr. Cahill also loved fishing with one of his brothers, James, who is a surgeon. The two brothers would take their boat out off the coast of Brigantine to fish for marlin, but always threw the fish back.

"They would tag and release," said their dad. "They were sportsmen."

Thomas Cahill also loved playing baseball and bicycling, his father said.

A Mass of remembrance will be held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Most Blessed Sacrament Church in Franklin Lakes, where he was a parishioner. Afterward, the family is hosting a reception at the Indian Trail Club at 830 Franklin Lakes Road. In lieu of flowers, the Cahill family has asked that donations be made in Thomas' name to the Tomorrows Children's Fund, a fund for needy children and families requiring medical care, affiliated with Hackensack Medical Center, 30 Prospect Ave., Hackensack, N.J. 07601.

Survivors include his parents, James and Kathleen of Franklin Lakes; his brothers, James of Franklin Lakes, and Christopher of Wyckoff; his sisters Kathleen Psirogianes and Kerry Kerin of Franklin Lakes; three nieces and one nephew.