Todd Joseph Ouida

The Strength in That Smile

Whether he was mischievously finagling another stroke at golf or beaming over his infant niece, Todd Ouida's smile touched people. "A great smile that could light up a room," said his mother, Andrea.

It was not a smile he came by easily.

He was not big enough, his older brother, Jordan Ouida joked, to be a water boy. But he persisted and became a starting defensive back on the River Dell High School Football Team in New Jersey. He overcame a panic disorder that began in the fourth grade and made him terrified to go to school for several years. But he received a degree from the University of Michigan.

Todd Ouida, 25, became a foreign currency option trader for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 105th floor of the north tower. He was hired on his own merits after a summer internship arranged by Jordan Ouida, a vice-president in the London office. He and his father, Herbert, executive vice-president of the World Trade Centers Association on the 78th floor ‹ he survived the attack ‹ commuted together from River Edge, N.J.

"Todd was always amazing us; whatever the obstacle, he was able to overcome it," Jordan Ouida said. "There was a lot of family support, but it was also the inner strength that he had in himself."

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on November 11, 2001.


Dad worked on the 77th floor, his son on the 105th.

When the first airplane crashed into the World Trade Center, Todd J. Ouida called his mother from his office to tell her he was OK, and so was her husband, Herbert.

But Todd, an options broker with the firm Cantor Fitzgerald, didn't really know his dad's condition; he hadn't spoken to him.

"He was trying to protect his mother, make sure she didn't worry," Herbert Ouida said. "That was the kind of guy Todd was."

Todd Ouida, 25, of River Edge, N.J., was killed when the north tower collapsed. His father survived, walking down in a little more than one hour.

Herbert Ouida said he thinks his son never made it below the floors where American Airlines Flight 11 struck.

"My son was trapped, and the first thing he thought about was making sure his mother didn't worry about me," he said.

A graduate of the University of Michigan, Todd Ouida got an internship at Cantor Fitzgerald after his junior year. The company offered him a job when he graduated.

"Your son is with you one minute, and then he's not with you," Herbert Ouida said. "There's a big void in our lives, and situations like this make you see the thinness of life and death. It's just such a fine line."