Brian Patrick Monaghan Jr.

The Archetypal Good Kid
His friends nicknamed Brian P. Monaghan Jr., "slick" — but not the deceptive, smooth-talking, street-smart kind of slick. Around Inwood, where he lived, Mr. Monaghan was known as the archetypal good kid, a 21- year-old who helped elderly women across streets and went to the store for neighbors who could not.

No, they called him Slick because of the way he wore his hair: smoothed back, matinee-idol style.

He grew up playing baseball and handball on the courts near 207th Street. The older guys use to tease Brian Sr., the Little League coach, that Junior was not going to be a New York Yankee. But if the former World Champs drafted on the basis of heart, Brian Jr. would have been wearing pinstripes for a living.

He chose carpentry as a profession. Sept. 11 would have been his second day on the job at Certified Installation Services on the 98th floor of 2 World Trade Center. Mr. Monaghan had already made an impression on his co-workers.

After Sept. 11, his new colleagues said what those who have known Brian Jr. all his life have said: he was a good kid.