Atsushi Shiratori

New York Adrenaline
Atsushi Shiratori was not a New Yorker by birth. But he was a New Yorker to the bone.

A trader of dollar/yen options at Cantor Fitzgerald and one of the firm's partners, Mr. Shiratori, 36, was addicted to the city. Sure, he was passionate about his job, and so obsessed with the stock market that he once spent a two-week vacation in a day- trading salon, buying and selling stocks.

But it was New York that really started his engines. Peter Douglas, a friend who sat with Mr. Shiratori on the trading desk a few years ago, said: "He loved, loved, loved New York. Everything about it. The pulse of it, the intensity, the energy. He loved looking sharp, having the style. Going out to dinner with friends, nights on the town. Sucking it in, 24 hours a day."

Magali Somers lived with Mr. Shiratori for the last three years. He recently helped her open a furniture restoration shop. "He had a huge social life and he would always live for the present," she said. "He would always enjoy the moment, and that's what impressed me about him the most."