Stephen Jacobson, 53 (SNYT)
He worked up top. He loved it up there, with his transmitter.
Steven Jacobson was an engineer for WPIX and worked in a room on the 110th floor of 1 WTC, usually by himself, tending to the station's transmitter. He had a deep fidelity to the transmitter, caring for it like a sick baby the occasional time it would "dump," taking the station off the air. One time, he used his shoelaces to get it going again.
During the 1993 bombing, he stayed until midnight, to make sure the transmitter operated properly once power was restored. When the bomb exploded, a close friend in maintenance had gone to get lunch for him. The man called upstairs to Steve, saying, "Steve! Explosion! Smoke! People are running out!"
"Does this mean I don't get my egg roll?" was Mr. Jacobson's reply. (He had a dry humor.)
It was a routine for him to invite Jewish friends to lunch at his Manhattan home on Yom Kippur when, of course, they were fasting. He loved to prowl through ham radio flea markets. Unfailingly, he would ask a vendor, "Do you have a used logbook and a big eraser?"
Also, Steve had a habit of not using turn signals when he drove. When questioned, he would respond, "It's nobody's business which way I'm turning." |
