Godwin Forde

A Reunion, Albeit Brief

Godwin Forde earned his share of admirers during his 10 years as a private security guard, even before he was promoted in 1999 to work at Merrill Lynch at 2 World Trade Center. Because he had worked at "Late Show with David Letterman" and later at the FX Network, he was frequently seen in the background on television programs. He even made a few cameos on an FX morning program, "Breakfast Time." His former boss and employees at the buildings where he worked said Mr. Forde was a quiet, friendly fixture, a bit of comfort for harried workers.

But most of those employees did not know that Mr. Forde, 39, saw their faces more than his children's. In 1991, Mr. Forde left his home in London, where he had been an electrician, and moved in with a sister in Brooklyn, while his daughter, Charlene Forde, then age 8, and three younger sons stayed in London.

"He said to me he just wanted a change," Ms. Forde recalled. "He came up here and he was happy here."

Charlene spent 10 more years in London, living for most of the year at boarding school. Last Sept. 2, she arrived in New York to live with her father in his apartment in Flatbush, Brooklyn. When he picked her up at John F. Kennedy International Airport, they had some catching up to do.

"He wanted to know what was on my mind, and what I'd been up to in London," Ms. Forde recalled.