Ex-islander’s The widow of Richard Y.C. Lee describes her husband as a man who was "utterly devoted to family and friends," especially his 22-month-old son.
death confirmed
Richard Y.C. Lee worked
on the 104th floorBy Rod Antone
rantone@starbulletin.com"The walls of his office were papered with the hundreds of photos of his adored 22-month-old son," said Karen Lee in a news release yesterday. "He looked forward to reading aloud to his little boy and spending time with him."
Lee, a 1986 Punahou graduate, was one of the thousands reported missing in New York after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
The New York Police Department confirmed that Lee was among those killed.
"For those who knew him, the enormity of his loss is unbearable," said his wife. "But they know his spirit lives on through the tremendous impact he had on others."
Karen Lee said her husband had called her from his 104th-floor workplace at the World Trade Center just after the first plane's impact and told her to give his cell phone number to emergency workers in a "typical can-do manner hoping to lead his group to safety." But when police tried the cell phone five minutes later, she said, there was no answer.
The confirmation of Lee's death comes after Lee's family members living in New York spent days journeying from hospital to hospital checking for signs of him, dead or alive. Lee was employed as a managing director of equities at Cantor Fitzgerald/e-speed and is the son of the late Ronald Lee Sr., a former business professor in Honolulu, said Karen.
In addition to his wife and son, Lee is survived by grandmother Sueko in Honolulu, mother Susan Yoshinaka and brothers Ronald (Buddy) Lee and Alex Lee, who all live in New York.
A memorial service for Lee has been scheduled for 4 p.m. Oct. 7 at Punahou School Thurston Memorial Chapel.
