When United Airlines flight 93 crashed in to the Pennsylvania countryside, UR graduate Jeremy Glick was on board. The West Mildford, N.J. citizen was among the men who seem to have overpowered the hijackers and heroically plunged the plane into the ground, preventing it from hitting another target. All 45 aboard the plane, including Glick, were killed.
Glick had called his wife, Lyzbeth, who informed him of the two planes that hit the World Trade Center in New York. After taking a vote among the male passengers and telling his wife and their 3-month old daughter, Emerson, that he loved them, Glick seems to have led the male passengers of the plane on an attack to stop the hijackers in the cockpit from reaching their target.
Glick was a Strategic Account Manger for Vividence, Inc. and was flying on business from Newark to San Fransico. The 32-year-old is now being considered for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America&s highest civilian honor. It is believed that the plane he helped stop was headed for the U.S. Capitol.
&He knew that stopping them was going to end all of their lives,& Glick&s brother-in-law told The Washington Post. &But that was my brother-in-law. He was a take-charge guy.&
The qualities he displayed in his last few moments did not come as a surprise to those who knew him when he attended UR.
UR years
Glick was an English major at UR. Outside of class he was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, captain of the rugby team, a national collegiate judo competitor and an active member of the surrouding community.
Ray Zachowsky, who graduated with the class of 1992, remembers the first day he met Glick when they both were at school early for sports their freshman year and lived across the hall from one another in Hoeing Hall. These types of vivid memories filled the minds of Glick&s friends 8212; memories of him as a &great guy& and &someone who could always make you laugh.&
Vice President, General Secretary and Special Adviser to the President Paul Burgett also remembers working with Glick to rewrite the consituition of what was then known as the Inter-Fraternity council, his work with children at the YMCA and personal interactions.
&I have one especially vivid 8212; and funny 8212; memory of Jeremy. After one visit to my office, we exchanged a bear-like hug and both of us laughingly commented on how rare it is for one big guy to be hugged by another big guy,& Burgett said. &The moment was special for me and, I think, for him.&
Fraternity
As a sophomore Glick pledged Alpha Delta Phi fraternity along with his hallmate Zaychowski. Mark Bonifacio, another brother, described the devotion he felt for the fraternity.
&He loved the fraternity, and put it ahead of just about everything else at school,& Bonifacio said.
This love caused Glick to become president from the spring of 1992 to the fall of 1993.
&He was a great leader for the fraternity and gave the fraternity his strength in a time when it was going through a hard time,& Zaychow-ski said.
Building on the literary aspect present in the history of the fraternity, Glick and his brothers produced semesterly collections of their written work for each other.
Memorials
The family and friends of Glick gathered Friday, Sept. 14 to celebrate his life and share memories. &He exemplified honor and bravery all the years of his life,& said Zaychowsky at the memorial.
&He was no different in his expectations and actions then than now,& he continued.
&He lives with us all, no one can take that away from us,& said Michelle Bonifa-cio of the class of 1992, friend of Glick and husband of Mark Bonifacio.
She noted that everyone had a funny story to tell about Glick.
Program details
In the program for the memorial was printed the poem &Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep,& which accurately portrayed the situation for Mrs. Bonifacio.
Zaychowsky agreed by saying that he believed that Glick would want his friends to ¬ overdo the mourning for him, but move on.&
Future plans
Some of the alumni brothers of Alpha Delta Phi who attended UR with Glick are planning to put together a new issue of writings together, like they did as students, in his honor &to symbolize the tradition he loved of sharing ideas,& Zychowsky said.
The current brothers of Alpha Delta Phi are also planning a memorial service at their house during Meliora Weekend.
A memorial fund has been set up for Lyzbeth and Emerson Glick.
Miller can be reached at amiller@campustimes.org.
