September 11 Attack Claims Jim Samuel

By Becky Lofstead

His job as an assistant commodities broker took him to the 92nd floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center nearly every day for five years. By any standard, James K. Samuel Jr. was at the top of his field and going places.

He was also in love.

Young, successful, charismatic, and bright, Samuel started off this day like many New Yorkers. He was up early to get to his 6 a.m. job at Carr Futures. Like some 3,000 others who lost their lives on 9-11, he could never have dreamt of such unimaginable horror. Certainly, Jim Samuel's family and friends could not.

A 1993 graduate of the WVU College of Business and Economics, Samuel lived in Hoboken, New Jersey. He normally drove his Porsche Boxster across the river to work, but it was being serviced that day, so he took the commuter train.

He had been out late at a concert the night before with his girlfriend, Jackie, but he was still up at the crack of dawn, according to best friend and fellow WVU classmate Brian Martin, "because that was just Jim: his work ethic was phenomenal."

"I can remember in college when Jim worked as a chef at Lakeview Resort on the weekends," Martin recalled. "We would be out until 4 a.m., but Jim would still get up at 7 a.m. and go to work. He never missed—even when he was so tired.

"He truly loved life: his job, his friends, and family. He was a very committed person, and if you were his friend, he would do anything for you."

Martin and Samuel met as freshmen and immediately hit it off. Samuel lived in Braxton Tower. Martin, who attended college in Maryland, would often visit campus. When Martin transferred to WVU in his sophomore year, the two rented a house with several other friends.

"Those were great times," said Martin, who now lives in Middletown, Maryland, and works for Nokia's network security division. "We basically grew up as men together. We played a lot of intramural sports, and went to all the WVU football and basketball games, including the Sugar Bowl our senior year. Jim was a huge Mountaineer football and basketball fan.

"We also golfed together. He loved the game. Since we both worked at Lakeview during college, we'd play the course a couple times a week because we got a discount. After graduation, golf became even a bigger part of Jim's life."

They never missed a spring break trip, Martin added, driving to Panama City, Florida, and other southern destinations over the years. "We actually did study together, too," he quipped.

Samuel's friendship was the catalyst that brought Martin and his wife, Laura, also a WVU graduate, together. "Jim convinced me to chase her around town one night to get to know her better," Martin said. "I did, and today Laura and I are happily married and have two young sons."

And even though the two friends went separate ways after graduation, they always managed to stay in touch, visiting one another about twice a year—always getting in a beloved round of golf or two—and talking on the phone about once a month. "If we hadn't talked for a while, one of us would pick up the phone and check in," Martin said. "Inevitably, the other would say, 'Man, I was just thinking about you and getting ready to call.'"

Recently, after Jim met Jackie, Martin said the phone calls were less frequent, but he understood why. "Jim was in love. She was The One, and when I met her at the memorial service, I knew why the calls started slowing down. She is a wonderful person and she made Jim very happy."

If there is a bright spot in this tragedy, Martin noted, it is that WVU friends have reunited. "Jim and I had lost touch with some of our best friends, but his death brought us all back together," Martin said. "We talk regularly now and are planning a golf tournament in the Baltimore–D.C. area this fall to raise money for a memorial scholarship fund that has been set up in Jim's honor."

The fund was established through the WVU Foundation by the Samuel family: father James Sr.; mother Linda; and sister Jen, from Jamesburg, New Jersey. The fund will provide scholarship support to a WVU student who has some of the same interests and qualities as Jim. Friends and family have already given more than $5,500 to the fund.

In the meantime, Martin said he will never forget his friend or the events of that fateful day. "I was driving into work that morning—near Dulles Airport—and listening to the radio," Martin said. "I wanted to verify what I was hearing so I pulled into a Starbucks and everyone was talking about it. My immediate thoughts were of Jim because of the early morning to mid-afternoon schedule he worked. I was hoping I would be wrong, but. . . ."

No one from Carr Futures who worked that day escaped, Martin said. All 69 are presumed dead. A family memorial service for Samuel was held in November in his hometown of Jamesburg.

The Samuel family encourages Jim's friends to share their WVU memories with them by e-mail at samuel.j@comcast.net.

Gray Honored Since 9-11
Former WVU quarterback Chris Gray, who was one of two WVU alumni known to have perished in the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York, was honored by the West Virginia House of Delegates on February 22.

Members of Gray's family were present at the State Capitol when delegates passed a resolution honoring the New Jersey resident who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., a brokerage firm with offices in Tower One.

Gray, 32, received a B.S. in physical education at WVU in 1992, followed by a master's degree in P.E. teaching in 1994.

In October, friends, former teammates, and coaches gathered in Morgantown for a memorial service at WVU's Puskar Center. A scholarship fund has been established in Gray's memory by the Mountaineer Athletic Club and the Gray family. Those wishing to contribute may send checks payable to "MAC—Chris Gray" to: Mountaineer Athletic Club, P.O. Box 0877, Morgantown, WV 26507-0877.

Students Crowd 9-11 Courses
Spring 2002 semester courses added or modified in response to last year's terrorist attack on America drew great interest from students. More than 85 percent of the seats available in the new classes were taken at the start of the spring semester. Some class sizes were expanded to accommodate additional students.

In response to the events of September 11, 18 special three-hour credit and one-hour seminar courses were added to the curriculum. More than a dozen existing courses were changed to place a special focus on the attacks and the aftermath.

The courses also drew the interest of several major newspapers around the country, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Los Angeles Times, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

USA Today Honors Senior
Mike Wood, a senior from Cool Ridge majoring in political science and human resource management, was one of 20 students nationwide named to the USA Today All-USA College Academic First Team for 2002. Wood received the award from a field of 600 nominees because of his outstanding academic performance and leadership in activities on and off campus. A first-generation college student, Wood is involved in cleaning up acid mine drainage in area watersheds and sharing old-time mountain dancing with children and senior citizens. He was a reporter for the Daily Athenaeum and plans a career in politics and public service. Wood is the fifth WVU student to win the USA Today award since 1991.

Art Professor's Work on National Tour
Graphic Design Professor Cliff Harvey has been selected to take part in U.S. Design, 1975-2000, a major exhibition of contemporary American design organized by the Denver Art Museum. The show offers the first critical and comprehensive analysis of the design arts in the United States during the last quarter-century.

Harvey's book Before Rosebud was a Sled, based on WVU's GramLee Collection of Early American Commercial Wood Engravings, was selected for the exhibition to represent the area of fine printing. [See "A Passion for Printing," Summer 2000, p. 21.] The exhibition opened in Denver in February and began a cross-country tour in late May. The catalog will be distributed internationally. Harvey attended the show's premiere and took part in a special preview of the exhibition for design students.

"Having my book included in the exhibit is not only an honor for me, but an honor for West Virginia University and demonstrates the importance of the GramLee Collection to the history of design," he said.
Harvey has taught graphic design, design history, and book arts and has been coordinator of the graphic design program at WVU since 1973.

Thinkers Enlighten Festival of Ideas
A provocative author, a prominent film director, world-class journalists, and key business and labor leaders presented their ideas during WVU's annual Festival of Ideas this spring. All talks were free, open to the public, and produced by WVU students.

"This exciting and enlightening lecture series exposed students to a variety of thought-provoking issues regarding current events, presented by speakers from today's headlines," said President Hardesty. The series also offered expert tips on how students can attain success when they enter the job market, Hardesty noted.

Leading off was Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence. He was followed by film director John Singleton; former Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman; staff writer Malcolm Gladwell of The New Yorker; Juan Enriquez, director of the Harvard Business School Life Science Project; Fareed Zakaria, author of the Newsweek article "Why They Hate Us: The Roots of Islamic Rage and What We Can Do About It"; and monster.com CEO Jeffrey Taylor.

Health Sciences Center to Expand
The WVU Board of Governors and the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission have approved a new 10-year master plan for the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center. The plan will add 600,000 square feet of new facilities, including construction of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute (BRNI) building.

A new classroom and library building, expansion of the emergency department and hospital, expansion of the Cancer Center and additional clinical and laboratory facilities, and new parking lots and a campus gateway are among other planned improvements.

Center for Writing Excellence Opens
After an initial year of development, the Center for Writing Excellence has officially opened its doors. The center is located in the English Department and brings together accomplished writers, teachers, and students in experiences designed to foster creativity and literary expression.
Two new programs, the first of their kind within the state, are at the forefront of the center's new offerings: a master of fine arts degree in creative writing and an undergraduate concentration in professional writing. The center also is sponsoring new distance-learning writing classes, on-campus readings by nationally recognized writers including Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stephen Dunn and WVU alumnus John O'Brien, and new and continued partnerships with local schools and communities.

High Praise for WVU Musicians
From a review by Cecelia Porter in the Washington Post, February 27, 2002: "West Virginia University's band department sent its cream of the crop to the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater on Monday [Feb. 25]. The school's Wind Symphony, a wind and percussion ensemble, is the showpiece among the department's seven bands. Opening with a lustrous Gabrieli canzon for brass, the West Virginia players easily matched the special brilliance of the Eastman School's Wind Ensemble, which dazzled American audiences under Frederick Fennell in the 1950s. The group proved its technical prowess, versatility, and sheer enthusiasm as it sprinted through a program underlining the jumble of styles known as 20th-century music. Student pianist Pei Sien Lim joined with a chamber ensemble for a glistening performance of Messiaen's Oiseaux Exotiques. Conducted by Don Wilcox, it was an intelligent, focused account, underscoring the music's mystical continuity threading through ever-shifting masses of timbre and sonic density."

New Downtown Library Dedicated
WVU's new Downtown Campus Library was formally dedicated on April 10—100 years after the completion of its predecessor, now called Stewart Hall, which opened in 1902.

A new five-story, 124,000-square-foot addition has been constructed adjacent to the 71-year-old Charles C. Wise Jr. Library; a glass-enclosed atrium connects the two buildings. In addition to housing books, periodicals, and electronic media, the new facility has more than 200 new desktop and laptop computers for student use. Workers are now in the midst of a year-long renovation of Wise Library, which opened in 1931 and was expanded in 1951. The renovated Wise will house the West Virginia and Regional History Collection and WVU's art collections. It will also house general book collections, reading rooms, and offices.

The projected cost of the entire complex is $36 million.

New Academy of Distinguished Alumni Members
By Bill Nevin

The WVU Alumni Association has inducted four new members into the Academy of Distinguished Alumni. The Academy of Distinguished Alumni brings special recognition to WVU graduates who have made exceptional achievements and contributions to humankind.

Joseph Simpson Farland received a bachelor's degree in political science in 1936 and a law degree in 1938, both from WVU. He completed postgraduate studies at Princeton and Stanford, and launched a distinguished career in 1942 as a special agent for the FBI. He became a Navy officer in 1944.

Farland was appointed ambassador to the Dominican Republic by President Eisenhower in 1957 and ambassador to the Republic of Panama in 1960. He was reaffirmed in the latter position by President Kennedy and served until 1963. Farland also served as ambassador to Pakistan from 1969 to 1972, and ambassador to Iran from 1972 to 1973.

In addition to ownership in various coal companies, he served as president of Farland Fuel Co., Farland Coal Corp., and Christopher Fuel Corp., operating coal properties in northern West Virginia and western Maryland.

Stuart M. Robbins earned a bachelor's degree in history from WVU in 1965. Now retired, he spent much of his career building one of the most successful equity businesses in the securities industry. His career at Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette took him from a member of the research department specializing in retail stocks to managing director of the institutional equity desk to the firm's board of directors and strategic management committee.

He currently serves as a member of the advisory board of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and is vice chair of the WVU Foundation Board of Directors. He also chairs the Foundation board's investment committee and is vice chair of the Building Greatness capital campaign.

In addition, Robbins and his wife, Joyce, have created lasting endowments for WVU students, recruited many students to the University, and established the first-ever chair in the Department of History.

Ivan R. Schwab, M.D., is a pioneer with a vision that may help millions who have lost their sight. His ground-breaking efforts in using bioengineered, or laboratory-grown, eye tissue to restore eyesight has received national and international recognition.

Schwab's research may one day lead to using bioengineered tissue to restore the linings of the lungs, bladder, and intestines. This will give people dealing with devastating and often-fatal diseases hope for a better prognosis.

Schwab graduated summa cum laude from WVU in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in biology. He received his medical degree from WVU in 1973. Schwab says WVU has been the base of his educational foundation.

He is currently a member of the medical school faculty and a renowned eye research team at the University of California, Davis, and has been published extensively in some of the world's leading medical journals.

Loretta M. Ucelli received a bachelor's degree in journalism from WVU in 1976. She has more than 20 years of experience in issue strategy, reputation management, crisis communication, and media relations.

Most recently, she served as assistant to the president and director of White House communications during the final 22 months of President Clinton's term. In that capacity, Ucelli served as one of the closest advisors to the president, handling communication issues that included the economy, trade, crime, education, health care, and foreign policy.

Ucelli currently serves as chair of the crisis management sector of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, based in New York. This position requires her to oversee a team of organizational crisis specialists. Together, they assess clients' needs and provide strategic counsel and response services when crises occur.

Minimally Invasive Surgery: Less Pain, More Gain
By Dan Shrensky

Stephen McNatt, M.D., director of WVU's new Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery, says his work and that of other WVU surgeons will help speed the adoption of improved surgical procedures throughout the Health Sciences Center, and around the state and region.

"Minimally invasive surgery is the wave of the future. It has exploded in popularity in the past decade," McNatt said.

The procedures use small incisions and specialized instruments such as scopes and tiny cameras to replace traditional surgery. The procedures are often less stressful for patients than other techniques. Many of the minimally invasive techniques are made possible by advances in medical imaging that allow doctors to pinpoint the exact location where a procedure needs to take place without viewing it directly.

Patients with advanced liver cancer may benefit from a new minimally invasive technology that kills cancerous cells with a powerful burst of radio waves. Radio frequency ablation is often the only potentially curative treatment to fight advanced cancer in the liver, according to Ankesh Nigam, M.D., chief of surgical oncology at the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center.

Traditional surgery involves removing part of the patient's liver to get rid of the cancerous tumor. If the disease has spread widely throughout the organ, surgery is impossible because removing the entire liver would be fatal. Nigam can place a radio frequency needle directly into a liver tumor and heat cancerous cells with an electric current until they die. The process is very localized, preserving most of the surrounding healthy liver tissue. Compared to surgery, blood loss is minimal, complications are fewer, and recovery is much faster.

"Radio frequency ablation may be the way we treat most liver tumors in the future," said Nigam. "It is a technique that offers a chance for cure in situations in which there was none before."

Cardiothoracic surgeon Michael Szwerc, M.D., uses a new minimally invasive technique to harvest a leg vein to replace damaged arteries near the heart. Traditionally, the vein is removed from a long incision that may stretch from ankle to groin. The incision can cause serious discomfort, may leave an unsightly scar, and carries a risk of infection.

Using special instruments, Szwerc performs the vein removal through one, two, or three small leg incisions that are each less than an inch long. The procedure allows the patient to recover in a matter of weeks rather than months.

Other minimally invasive surgeries include laparoscopic gallbladder and spleen removal, and endoscopic sinus surgery. "Our physicians will continue to explore new areas of minimally invasive surgery and offer them to our patients," McNatt said.

Loehr Heads New Entrepreneurship Center
By Connie Banta

WVU alumnus Thomas E. Loehr, one of West Virginia's leaders in business and government, is the director of the new Entrepreneurship Center in the College of Business and Economics.

Established to foster the growth of business enterprises that will contribute to West Virginia's economic development, the center is a partnership among the College of Business and Economics; the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Consumer Sciences; the WVU Extension Service; and the Office of Technology Transfer.

"Tom Loehr's energetic leadership will enhance our students' education, and the entrepreneurial expertise we develop through the center will greatly energize the growth of West Virginia enterprise," said Jay Coats, dean of the College of Business and Economics.

Loehr will lead the Entrepreneurship Center in its efforts to provide entrepreneurial education, research, and technical assistance to entrepreneurs and family businesses across the state and region. Initial projects will focus on fostering enterprises in forestry and high-technology products, developing ways to teach the principles of entrepreneurial success, engaging WVU students in entrepreneurial activities, and exploring policy strategies to improve the state's entrepreneurial climate. Plans for the center also include establishing a Family Business Institute, a student business plan competition, and a program for commercializing ideas and technology emerging from WVU research.

"My intention is for the WVU Entrepreneurship Center to develop and foster the kinds of programs that will empower entrepreneurs to grow their businesses here in West Virginia," Loehr said. "I am a strong believer in the power of collaboration, and when the center pulls together the expertise and resources of WVU with other state business organizations, agencies, and institutions, I expect us to become a national leader in fostering entrepreneurship."

Loehr has been involved in venture capital in West Virginia and the mid-Atlantic region for the past 10 years. He was instrumental in forming WestVen, West Virginia's first licensed smallbusiness investment company. Loehr is president of Fourth Venture Investment Group, an investment firm specializing in strategic planning, venture capital investment banking, and business collaborations.

His experience in government includes serving as a West Virginia state senator (1982-89) and as state treasurer under Governor Gaston Caperton (1989-91). He was called upon by Caperton to restore confidence in the state treasurer's office and manage the state's $3 billion investment portfolio.

Loehr holds a bachelor's degree in accounting and a law degree from WVU. He has studied at Exeter University in England, and has taught at WVU, Ohio University, and West Liberty State College.

Summer 2002 Contents

Home