Avnish Ramanbhai Patel

On the Road With a Camera
There is Avnish Patel, beaming from astride a rented scooter in Thailand. There he is again, skimming through the powder at Snowbird in Utah, hiking 3,000 feet above Lake Wakatipu in New Zealand, decked out in Mardi Gras beads and surrounded by his four best college buddies at a Cajun restaurant in New Orleans. Mr. Patel, a research analyst for Fred Alger Management, was only 28, but he had already been everywhere, "probably 20 to 30 countries," in his older brother Yogesh's estimation.

The proof can be found on the Web site where Mr. Patel, a talented photographer, posted elegant images from his travels (along with nuggets of wisdom culled from his favorite novels). But despite his voracious appetite for the rest of the world, there was no question in Mr. Patel's mind that New York City was home. As an 11-year-old living in London, he had persuaded his parents to let him cross the Atlantic alone and move in with an uncle in Connecticut. From then on, he was hooked, eventually graduating from — where else? — New York University.

"His love for New York City was immense," his brother said. "We tried to get him to live out in Long Island, but he just wanted to be there."

Three black and white pictures taken from the 93rd floor of his office in the north tower attest to the depth of that love. Next to one, a moody tribute to the Statue of Liberty — glimpsed as a proud dark silhouette across an expanse of glinting water — Mr. Patel had written: "Freedom! Liberty! The ultimate symbol of the greatest city in the world."