Bios

Ignatius Udo Adanga

Ignatius Udo Adanga was born 62 years ago in Nigeria. As a young man, he left home for Lagos, the capital. He moved on to Liberia and then Germany before migrating to New York some two decades ago.

Mr. Adanga’s quest for a better life led him through a series of city and state jobs in housing, probation, children’s services and, finally, the planning department of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, at the World Trade Center.

For all that, Mr. Adanga struck those who knew him as energetic rather than restless. He always seemed to have spare time to help family members – his wife, Afiong, and three daughters – friends and co-workers.

“Your country or your nativity was immaterial,” said McLord Obiora, a friend, at a memorial service in November. Judith Wilson, a co-worker for the past year, said Mr. Adanga not only took the time to help her settle in but also became a mentor for her son Kareem, 10, when he learned she was a single parent. “I was always going to him for advice,” she said.

Charles Lesperance

Charles Lesperance loved the good life, and he loved to learn. He was a pro at cooking salmon, had season tickets to the opera, and could take a computer apart and put it back together again. He had an M.B.A. from Columbia and enough credits for a second bachelor’s degree. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Mr. Lesperance, 55, was supposed to marry Renee Alexander, whom his daughter described as “like the love of his life.”

“I really tried to go about being as normal as I possibly could,” Ms. Alexander said of that day. “I just didn’t know what to do. I did not know what to do. I figured it’s just a day; it’ll come and go. But then his birthday was right after that. Holidays are very difficult.

Mr. Lesperance had spent his early childhood in Haiti, and he and Ms. Alexander enjoyed traveling to the Caribbean, especially St. Martin, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Martinique and St. Lucia.

“We were always very at peace and comfortable back there,” she said. He wanted to go back to the blue water of the Caribbean. He loved it,” she said of her fiancé, who had spent his early childhood in Haiti.

Nilaja Shealy, the second of his three daughters, remembers the lesson she learned from her father, who was a systems analyst with the State Department of Transportation. “The biggest thing that my father did, that anyone should try to do in their life, is to always improve, to always continually seek to be better,” she said. “I think he did that.”*

See Wong Shum

Globetrotting was just one of See Wong Shum’s interests. Born in Hong Kong, he migrated to the U.S. in the late 80’s, leaving behind his years teaching high school biology--his college major--and being a corrections officer. Between earning an MBA at the State University of New York, Albany, in management information systems, and his work in the New York State departments of health and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, he traveled to Europe, South America, Mexico, India and other destinations. His wife Rebecca, whom he wed in 1992, remarked that it would have been nice if he’d waited to take her along on some of those trips.

When Shum wasn’t on the road, he read voraciously, books of all kinds: finance, science, politics, religion, mysteries. On September 11, 2001, he was busy at yet another passion: his computer and his information systems job at NYMTC. Technology bonded him with Rebecca, herself a programmer.

Shum called Rebecca “the glue that held his family together.” Their two children, Leon now 9 and Chanel now 6, were the highlights of their lives. “His stories centered on them,” a colleague recalled. “He worried about their health when they became ill.” And with good reason. Shum was acquainted with tragedy. He’d lost two siblings in accidents and was the only remaining son in his close-knit family.

Since 9/11, Rebecca hasn’t had much time to pursue Shum’s other interests: movies and working out at health clubs. She’s quit her job and devoting her time to raising Leon and Chanel. Family is of utmost importance to her, too, especially now.