Robert Andrew Spencer

A Breath of Salt Air

After the four-hour drive to Bethany Beach, Del., Christine Spencer was eager to unpack the car. But her husband, Robert Andrew Spencer, never let her. "Not until we feel the sand on our feet," he would say, and then he would lead the way, galloping down the beach and plunging headfirst into the salt spray.

Mr. Spencer, known to everyone as either Andy or Spence, had grown up with the smell of salt air and was determined to pass along his love of the shore to his children. "He was sort of like the Pied Piper," said his brother, Michael. He would lead Addison, 5, and Kathryn, 3, into the water at full speed. Then he might drape a strand of seaweed over his ears to keep them laughing. "The guy had a lot of positive energy," said John Greeley, a friend. "He was one of those people who just don't sit down."

Mr. Spencer, 35, left his Middletown, N.J., home at 5 a.m. to get to his job as a foreign exchange broker at Cantor Fitzgerald. He usually returned home a little after 6 p.m., in time to put the girls to bed. A third child, Robert Philip, was born on Aug. 16.

In what she called a celebration of life, Mrs. Spencer decided to have the baby's baptism and her husband's memorial service on the same day.


Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on January 13, 2002.


Robert Spencer, 35, 'awesome father' Minutes after a hijacked jetliner crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower on Sept. 11, Robert Andrew "Andy" Spencer telephoned his wife, Christine, at their home in Middletown.

His message from his office at Cantor Fitzgerald Securities, on the tower's 105th floor: "I'm alive, and I love you."

Then the line went dead.

Now, as his family remembers a man who loved the beach, good cigars -- and every minute he spent with his daughters, Addison, 5, and Kathryn, 3, and 1-month-old son, Robert Philip -- they hope that his incredible gift for making people laugh may have been comfort for his co-workers in their final minutes.

"We know that he went with a lot of people he knew and cared about . . . he wasn't alone," said his sister, Kathryn Hayes of San Antonio, Texas. "I just know he had everyone laughing."

She said her brother, 35, could turn a family gathering into a riot of laughter.

"He'd put on these impromptu skits, put on an accent, put a kerchief on his head. He had to go through this whole elaborate act before he dove into the pool," Hayes said. "I loved the way he made us laugh. I can't believe I'm never going to see him do that again."

A graduate of St. Joseph High School in Metuchen and the University of Maryland, Mr. Spencer was a foreign exchange broker.

But that was his job. His passions were children and laughter.

"He was an awesome father and he adored children," said his wife, Christine Spencer. "He made everybody smile, which is the greatest gift of all."

On Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Holy Cross Church in Rumson, Mr. Spencer's family will hold a joint ceremony celebrating his life and the christening of his son, Robert Philip.

Christine Spencer said the joint celebration of life is what her husband would have wanted.

"Considering what he said, 'I'm alive,'" she said. "It's just great that we had a little boy. At least he was able to experience him."

In addition to his wife, children and sister, Mr. Spencer is survived by his parents, Patricia and Robert Spencer of Piscataway; three sisters, Elizabeth Richardson of Tewksbury, Jennifer Fosburgh of Lebanon and Susan Spencer-Craig of Bridgewater; and a brother, Michael Spencer of Little Silver.