Jason Sekzer

Campers, United
Jason Sekzer started going to Camp Sussex as a boy, one of hundreds of city children who grabbed the chance to spend part of each summer in the country in New Jersey.

Then, bit by bit, the camp became an ever larger part of his life. He graduated from camper to waiter, waiter to kitchen helper and finally to chef. "He used to say that he could cook for 400 but he couldn't cook for 2," recalled Robert Silver, executive vice president of Camp Sussex.

After he got a job at Cantor Fitzgerald, and could no longer spend summers at the camp, Mr. Sekzer joined its board of directors. "It was something special," said his wife, Natalie Makshanov-Sekzer, 31, whom he had met there; the couple married in January. "The camp and the friends we made there were a major support to me after Sept. 11," she said.

Mr. Sekzer, 31, the son of a New York City police officer, began at Cantor Fitzgerald as a clerk and worked his way up to vice president. "Every year he got promoted; he was doing very well," his wife said. Once a year, Mr. Sekzer combined his job and his camp: he invited executives from Cantor Fitzgerald to play in a charity golf tournament raising money for Camp Sussex.