Kenneth G. "Ken" Grouzalis

He Was in Love
This is a love story. It begins and ends with the Port Authority, which is not known for amorous liaisons. It involves a mail deliverer, a secretary and the skyscrapers of New York.

The deliverer was named Ken G. Grouzalis. He was 18 when he began working for the authority. This was in 1963, when the authority had its headquarters at 111 Eighth Avenue. Mr. Grouzalis raced from floor to floor, dumping packages here, picking up letters there, but he lingered in the purchasing department. There sat Frances Zacharski, a secretary. Like Mr. Grouzalis, she commuted in each day from New Jersey. Like Mr. Grouzalis, she was young and single and full of dreams.

"In the beginning, he would say thank you, good morning, how are you," she said. "And then he'd start hanging around my desk a little bit longer than necessary."

Within two years they were married. Mr. Grouzalis was drafted into the Marines, served in the Vietnam War and came back to the Port Authority and a litany of departments: stockroom, real estate, accounting. He was proof that one could also fall in love with an institution. "The sun rose and set on the Port Authority," Mrs. Grouzalis said.

He moved to the World Trade Center when it was built and became a property manager there. As his wife said, "He often referred to it as his building." It was a lot like love.

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on December 6, 2001.


Kenneth Grouzalis, 56, Caribbean traveler

From the time Frances Grouzalis married her husband, Ken, traveling was a big part of his life.

First it was his tour as a U.S. Marine in Okinawa during the Vietnam War. Then it became his excursions on New Jersey and New York roads as a Harley-Davidson enthusiast, followed most recently by periodic Caribbean vacations.

"We loved traveling to different places," Frances Grouzalis said. "Aruba was our favorite."

Kenneth G. Grouzalis, 56, of Lyndhurst, died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. A property manager for subterranean areas for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, he was in his office on the basement's second level when hijacked planes crashed into the towers.

Co-workers last saw Mr. Grouzalis helping others evacuate the building, according to his wife and his former co-worker, John Picone.

"I know for a fact he was in the building because he was helping others," said Picone, who retired in December and knew Mr. Grouzalis for 32 years. "I know he had a chance to leave, and could have walked out at any time. But he stayed."

The last time his wife saw him was on the night of Sept. 10. The next day they had an "upbeat conversation" on the phone after 7 a.m. He called home after the attack.

"He called saying, 'It's me. We don't know what happened. So far I'm okay. I'll call you later,' " she said. "But he never called."

Frances Grouzalis had kept his last message until it was accidentally erased. "We used to play it just to hear his voice," she said.

Mr. Grouzalis' father, George, was a Port Authority bridge painter, while his mother, Dorothy, stayed home. The family moved from his native Staten Island to Orange and North Arlington, where he graduated from North Arlington High School in 1963.

After graduation he landed a job as a mail clerk with the Port Authority. It was there he met his wife. They married Sept. 5, 1965.

A year later, he was drafted and served two years in the U.S. Marines. After his return, Mr. Grouzalis worked his way up in the Port Authority, working in the stockroom, the real estate department, the accounting department at the World Trade Center, and later as property manager for subterranean areas. He oversaw the operations for six underground levels below the Trade Center.

The couple lived in Jersey City, where Mr. Grouzalis earned a bachelor's degree from St. Peter's University in 1972. Three years later, the couple had their daughter, Lisa Marie.

"She was daddy's little girl," his wife said. "He actually wanted a baby girl. He did not want a son. And that's what we had."

The couple settled in Lyndhurst 23 years ago.

In his spare time, Mr. Grouzalis rode his Harley-Davidson with friends and took vacations in the Bahamas, St. Martin's, Cancun and Aruba, where they owned a time share.

Mr. Grouzalis was predeceased by his parents and younger brother, Donald, who drowned when Mr. Grouzalis was 18.