Michael L. Collins liked Hawaii so much that he had hoped to retire here someday. Dreams of settling in Hawaii
dashed by NYC terrorist attacksBy Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.comCollins, 38, is among those missing and presumed dead in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center, where he was a manager in Cantor Fitzgerald's eSpeed unit.
He was married to Lissa Lee Collins, a 1977 graduate of Leilehua High School.
Leslie Lee Miyashiro said when her sister Lissa and brother-in-law Michael visited here, he embraced the islands.
"He was a cool guy, real mellow, really sweet," Miyashiro said. "He was very active when he was here. He'd go to the beach, go mountain biking, go to the outer islands with my brother. He liked the islands. He'd say he'd love to return here to retire."
Instead, members of his Hawaii family by marriage plan to attend a memorial service for him in Upper Montclair, N.J.
Collins worked 15 years for Cantor Fitzgerald, a company that lost an estimated 700 employees in the terrorist attack.
Lissa was on a business trip to Paris when the World Trade Center was attacked, Miyashiro said.
Collins' surviving family includes his parents, James and Mary Collins, brother Richard and sister Nancy, all of New York state. Hawaii relatives of Lissa Lee Collins, who married Collins in 1997, include her parents, Rose and Henry Lee, brother Henry and sisters Leslie Lee Miyashiro and Laura Putzulu, Miyashiro said.
Donations can be made in his memory to the American Diabetes Association or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
