Todd C. Weaver

A Competitive Drive

Once, on a skiing trip with his wife and his in-laws, Todd Weaver discovered that he was not the best skier in the family. The best by far was his wife, Amy Lawson.

"But he was determined that he was not going be beaten by anyone," said his father-in-law, Ted Lawson.

So Mr. Weaver studied up and took lessons, and the next year surprised everyone by blasting down the mountain, the proud new Best Skier of the Family, his brand-new bright yellow jacket clearly visible to all.

Mr. Weaver, 30, could be playfully competitive, but when it came to his family and his livelihood, he was all business. He and his wife, who met at Miami University in Ohio, carefully planned their moves around the world, to Japan, Atlanta, Chicago and finally to New York, with good jobs and graduate degrees along the way. He got his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago in August 2000, and within a month he had a job offer in New York. On Sept. 11, 2001, he was at work at 2 World Trade Center, where he was a vice president at Fiduciary Trust International.

"He was just the kind of guy you'd want as your son or husband," said his mother-in-law, Sharon Lawson. "He was just solid."

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on February 12, 2002.


Fresh from a one-year teaching job in Japan and a wealth of travel in the Far East, Todd Weaver and his college sweetheart wife loaded up their car in 1994 and headed to Chicago to try their luck in the big city. He didn't have a job or a home, but it didn't take long before the Ohio native made his mark in Chicago's financial world. "He was one of our rising stars, the youngest senior consultant we've ever had," said John Ellwood, chairman of J.H. Ellwood and Associates, a Chicago investment company where Weaver worked from 1998 to 2000. "He was a marvelous guy, mature beyond his years. But he wanted to go to New York to make his fortune." Armed with a master's degree from the University of Chicago, Weaver, 30, secured a coveted job as a vice president with Fiduciary Trust Company International. He moved to New York City last fall with his wife, Amy. Marilyn Weaver said her son was ambitious, but also a caring man with many friends, a sharp mind and a dry sense of humor. "New York was his dream," she said. "It turned out to be a nightmare." Her son was in his office on the 94th floor of the World Trade Center's south tower when the first jet sliced through the north tower. He called his wife in a panic. About 15 minutes later, the second jet hit his building.