A Hidden Spirituality
Fred V. Morrone enriched the graduate level course in public management that he taught at Seton Hall University with his experience as superintendent of the 1,300-member Port Authority police force. But his most important lesson was the one he never lectured about: living a moral life. "My husband wasn't a saint," said Linda Morrone. "but he was a spiritual person, and he lived his life according to that." It was well known that Mr. Morrone, 63, was a 30-year veteran of law enforcement, a tough former New Jersey State Police lieutenant colonel who ran the casino gaming and intelligence services sections.
But hardly anyone knew that several times a week he attended 6:30 a.m. Mass near his home in Lakewood, N.J., before boarding a train into the city, or that he prayed at the start of each and every morning. All that was visible of Mr. Morrone's spiritual side was an occasional glimpse, like the time he had to decide what to do with a young new employee who had gotten into serious trouble. "Most other people would have given up on him," said Mrs. Morrone, "but my husband took the time to pray about it, and he came away with a feeling that he should act in favor of that person."
"Fred did that with a lot of different aspects of his jobs," Mrs. Morrone said, "but most people who worked with him would not have guessed that at all."
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on December 18, 2001.
September 27, 2001
Fred V. Morrone, 63, Is Dead; Led Port Authority Police
By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
Fred V. Morrone, the superintendent of police and director of public safety for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, died in the Sept. 11 collapse of the World Trade Center towers, where the agency had its headquarters, his family said. He was 63 and lived in Lakewood, N.J.
Lewis M. Eisenberg, the Port Authority chairman, said that agency employees had encountered Mr. Morrone heading upward at 1 World Trade Center, in a rescue effort, as they fled from offices on the 66th or 67th floors after a hijacked jet crashed into the tower.
"He would hesitate momentarily to assure them they'd get out safely," Mr. Eisenberg said.
"His encouragement, and the fact he was moving up while others were coming down, gave them a sense of security."
Mr. Morrone had planned to have breakfast that morning at Windows on the World, on the 107th floor of the tower, with Neil D. Levin, the executive director of the Port Authority, who also died.
Mr. Morrone had served since August 1996 as manager of the 1,300- member Port Authority police force, which patrols the metropolitan region's three major airports, the bridges and tunnels linking New York and New Jersey, the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, the PATH rail system and other facilities.
Mr. Morrone, who grew up in Brooklyn and in Princeton, N.J., received a bachelor's degree in political science from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and a master's degree in public administration from Rider University.
He was a member of the New Jersey State Police from 1963 to 1993, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel, and had commanded its Casino Gaming Bureau and Intelligence Services Section.
He is survived by his wife, Linda; two sons, Gregory, of Lakewood, and Hutch, of Westerly, R.I.; a daughter, Alyssa of Fair Lawn, N.J.; a sister, Patricia Freda of New Jersey; and two grandchildren.
Editorial obituary published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on September 27, 2001.
Fred Morrone, 63, ran in to save others
Fred V. Morrone was out of harm's way when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. The superintendent of police for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was not in his office on the first floor of the Twin Towers that morning. Instead, he was working in an office in Jersey City.
But when the first airplane crashed into a tower, he jumped into a car and sped to the other side of the Hudson River. There, he plunged into the job of helping to evacuate the buildings.
Friends and family members say Mr. Morrone was last seen near the 45th floor of One World Trade Center, the first building struck. Employees of the authority were coming down the stairs, escaping offices on the 66th and 67th floors. When they passed Mr. Morrone, he was still heading up.
No one who knew him during his long and distinguished career in law enforcement was surprised by that news.
"As soon as I heard about what happened, I thought about Fred," said Justin Dintino, the former superintendent of the New Jersey State Police who was once Mr. Morrone's boss.
"I thought, knowing Fred, he won't go to safety. He'll go try to help people get out. Then I hear he was last seen up on the 45th floor, calm, cool and helping others. Exactly what you would have figured."
Mr. Morrone, 63, was born in Brooklyn and raised in Rocky Hill. He and his wife, Linda, lived in Lakewood.
He spent most of his career as a New Jersey state trooper, retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1993.
Three years later, he landed the Port Authority job. The authority has 1,300 officers who patrol bridges, tunnels, airports, a bus terminal, marine terminals and the PATH rail system. The force is the 26th largest police department in the nation.
Mr. Morrone was a 1957 graduate of Princeton High School, according to his brother-in-law, Paul Freda. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Stockton State College in 1974 and a master's in public administration from Rider University in 1977.
Mr. Morrone's first job in law enforcement was with the Franklin Township Police Department. He joined the State Police in 1963.
"I was running the Intelligence Unit in 1981, and he was assigned to me as an investigator," Dintino said. "He was a tremendous investigator. He was like a bulldog. I would give him the toughest cases -- organized crime, solid waste -- and he would always deliver the goods.
"Any tough, long-term assignment, Freddy just wouldn't give up. If he got on your tail, you might as well cry uncle, because he was going to get you."
When Dintino was promoted to superintendent, Mr. Morrone was promoted to lieutenant colonel and oversaw all the department's criminal investigation activities.
One of the last cases he worked as a state trooper was the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. He was one of about three dozen troopers assigned to help the FBI with that investigation, Dintino said.
Since joining the Port Authority five years ago, Mr. Morrone has been credited with many initiatives. He established a residential training program at the Port Authority Police Academy, toughened training standards for recruits, helped create the International School for Airport and Seaport Security, implemented a program to train police officers in the use of portable heart defibrillators and established bike patrols at the airports, a scuba team, a Commercial Vehicle Inspection Unit, an Airborne Services Unit and a Motorcycle Unit.
Mr. Morrone was vice president of the International Association of Airport and Seaport Police and a member of the terrorism subcommittee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. He was on the board of directors of the New Jersey Special Olympics. He was also on the Board of Advisors for the New Jersey State Police Graduate Studies Program at Seton Hall University.
After a lifetime of long hours and hard work, Mr. Morrone had recently mastered the art of taking it easy in the hours he was away from work, said his sister, Patricia Freda of Kendall Park.
"He just started to learn how to relax," Mrs. Freda said. "He was starting to play some golf."
In addition to his wife and sister, Mr. Morrone is survived by three children, Fred, 31, of Westerly, R.I.; Alyssa, 30, of Fair Lawn; and Gregory, 23, of Lakewood; and two grandchildren.
A memorial Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart at 89 Ridge St. in Newark.
