REMEMBERING BEVERLY ECKERT
1951 – 2009
Beverly Eckert was an early friend of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign and a generous financial supporter of the Christian Regenhard Center for Emergency Response Studies. Her eloquence and keen grasp of the issues of information flow and situation awareness in the World Trade Center evacuation were both poignant and inspiring to all who met her.
Beverly was tragically lost in the crash of Continental Flight 3407 outside her hometown of Buffalo, New York in February 2009. Ironically, she was traveling to Buffalo to celebrate what would have been the 58th birthday of her husband, Sean Rooney, who himself died in the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
“With her compelling story, and even more for her contributions to the efforts to learn what happened on 9/11 and to her advocacy to apply what was learned, Beverly Eckert helped to improve situation awareness.”
Jake Pauls
Her Legacy
Beverly Eckert was a tireless advocate for 9/11 families and a vocal proponent of government accountability. She co-founded Voices of September 11th, a support organization for families affected by the attacks, and was instrumental in pushing for the creation of the 9/11 Commission.
Her testimony at the NIST Hearing in June 2002 provided crucial insights into the evacuation challenges faced by occupants of the World Trade Center, contributing to important research on building safety and emergency response procedures.
Beverly’s commitment to ensuring that the lessons of September 11th would lead to meaningful improvements in public safety continues to inspire the work of RACERS today.