Gay Couple and Adopted Son Were Passengers in Hijacked Jetliner
A gay couple on their way home to Los Angeles from Boston
were among those killed when United Airlines Flight 175 was hijacked Tuesday and
crashed into the second tower of New York's World Trade Center, reports
Louisville, Ky.'s WAVE-TV.
Ronald Gamboa and his partner of 13
years, Dan Brandhorst, were traveling with their 3-year-old adopted son, David.
"When [Ronald] didn't call, my fears got worse," said Gamboa's mother, Dr. Renee
Gamboa of Anchorage, Ky., who had seen the news reports of the jetliners
crashing into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "I heard that another
plane crashed and that it was United Airlines from Boston to L.A.," Gamboa said,
adding that it was a fluke her son was even on that flight. "He never takes an 8
o'clock," she said. "I don't know why he took that 8 o'clock
flight."
Mrs. Gamboa said her son was a very caring person and
visited her quite often. "He was here for a few days and left Tuesday, and he
kissed me good-night and said, 'I'll see you on the 21st,'" she said.
Le Moyne Leader Dies President of College's Alumni On United Flight
http://www.lemoyne.edu/alumni/brandhorst.htm
Article Appeared in the Syracuse Post-Standard
Thursday, September 13,
2001
By Jennifer Jacobs
A former Syracuse resident and prominent Los Angeles attorney, Daniel R.
Brandhorst, was flying home with his 2½-year-old son aboard the United Airlines
Flight 175 when the airliner slammed into the World Trade Center Tuesday.
"I'm sure in the movies, they'll be able to establish the terror a father has clutching his son," said Daniel's brother, David Benjamin Brandhorst, of North Syracuse. "My brother always rode first class, so I'm sure it was very much a first-hand, bird's-eye view of what was going on. He must have been right there.
"I just hope they didn't hurt the baby," David B. Brandhorst added, his voice hoarse with emotion. "But those people do things just to establish a point that they're in control."
Daniel R. Brandhorst, 41, graduated in 1982 from Le Moyne College with an accounting degree. He earned his law degree from Syracuse University in 1987.
Brandhorst was president of the Le Moyne's Alumni Board of Governors and on the Board of Regents.
He is survived by his brother, his mother, Alberta Brandhorst of Liverpool, his sister Denise Kelly of Liverpool, and his sister Dawn Rodgers of Jenison, Mich.
A junior partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers , he lived in Los Angeles with his only child, an adopted son named David Reed Gamboa Brandhorst. He was not married.
"He loved being a lawyer, he loved his son," his brother said. "Those were probably the two most important things in his life."
After visiting friends in Rhode Island for about a week, Brandhorst had driven to Boston either on business or to see friends - his family isn't certain. His son has a full-time nanny, but she was not on this flight, his family said.
The father and son were booked initially on a Continental flight leaving Boston Monday. They didn't take that flight, and when Brandhorst's family and co-workers couldn't reach him by cell phone Tuesday, they began to worry.
United Airlines officials confirmed their fears about seven hours after news of the terrorist attacks broke.
"My heart just dropped. I just couldn't believe it," said his sister, Denise Kelly. "All I can picture is him hugging his little boy for all he was worth."
Brandhorst had a demanding 24-hour-a-day job that required him to be on the telephone, on the computer and on airplanes frequently. While many people are overwhelmed by work alone, his brother said, he was committed to his family and to volunteering.
"He always found time to come home to Syracuse for Thanksgiving and Christmas no matter how busy he was," his brother said.
He had a record of 100 percent attendance at meetings, even though he had to travel from Los Angeles to Syracuse, said Susan D. Ross, director of alumni and parent programs. "He was a wonderful man - a very extraordinary man," Ross said. "We're just very sad."
"He would fly in for a three- or four-day weekend, diaper bag over his shoulder," his brother said. "He'd bring his son with him on his hip. He'd be off to Le Moyne and SU for a meeting and then home to put his son to bed because that's what meant most to him. Once he set his mind to it, there was nothing he couldn't achieve."
Brandhorst loved to ski, and took his son and nanny, as well as Kelly and her daughter, Magen , 5, to Aspen last winter.
"I'm just flooded with memories," his sister said. "He would call me four times a week from the West Coast to make sure I was OK. He was the family's rock."
Brandhorst also drew from his stash of more than a million United Airlines frequent flier miles to fly for free his brother's family, including his nephew and namesake, Daniel David Brandhorst, 6, to Los Angeles two weeks ago to visit for a week.
"We were fortunate enough to see him," David B. Brandhorst said.
© 2001 The Syracuse Newspapers
LA Times
http://www.lemoyne.edu/alumni/brandhorst.htm
Daniel R. Brandhorst
'82, president of the Le Moyne College Alumni
Association, Ronald Gamboa, and son David Reed Gamboa Brandhorst, were on United
Flight 175 that crashed into the World Trade Center.
Dan, a partner at
PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP in Los Angeles, CA., graduated from Le Moyne in 1982
with a bachelor's degree in accounting. He received a degree in law from
Syracuse University.
"He was a devoted alumnus who never missed a
meeting, even when that meant traveling from Los Angeles to Syracuse," said
Susan D. Ross '63, director of Alumni and Parent Programs. "He initiated many of
our alumni endeavors and was a highly motivated leader. This is a great loss not
just to those of us who knew him well, but to the entire College community."
Brandhorst addressed the Class of 2001 at this year's commencement and
reminded the graduates that they are no longer students, but alumni of the
College. That connection, said Brandhorst, is a lifetime one that students will
come to rely on as they move through their careers. He encouraged them to stay
involved and network with all alumni.
At the family's request and
through the generosity of many benefactors, a scholarship will be endowed at Le
Moyne College in memory of the Brandhorst-Gamboa family.
Scholarship gifts can be sent to:
Le Moyne College
c/o Scott Barrett
1419 Salt Springs Road
Syracuse, New York 13214
LATimes.com, Sept. 13, 2001, "Profiles of the Victims,
For Ronald Gamboa, the terror ended quickly -- at the moment he hit the World Trade Center.
For Renee Gamboa, the mother of the Trinity High School graduate who was among the 65 people who died on United Airlines Flight 175, it was an agonizing wait of more than six hours for the confirmation of her son's fate.
"It was just sheer waiting and crying. I just kept on calling and calling. Calling his phone. Calling United. Calling my friends, because I had a friend that has a daughter that works for United, and I was just trying to find out if they know the names," Renee Gamboa said last night.
She had been expecting a call from him.
"Because he usually calls. If there was a small earthquake in L.A., he would call and say, 'I'm OK.' But this time he didn't call. . . . I tried his cell phone; it was dead."
Ronald Gamboa, who was single, was 33.
His parents, Renee and Ranulfo Gamboa, learned of his death about 6 p.m., when a United representative phoned their Anchorage home.
Flying wasn't unusual for her son, who called the Hollywood Hills home, she said. He managed three Gap stores in Santa Monica, Calif., and had been in Boston Tuesday after a visit with friends.
The last time his mother saw him was over Labor Day weekend, when family and friends had gathered at the Gamboa home. Ronald promised he would return Sept. 21 for his parents' 38th anniversary, she said.
A friend, Derrick Tobias, was with the Gamboa family that weekend -- and last night.
More than seven years Ronald's junior, he had spent much of his younger years at Ronald's house.
"I look at him as a big brother," Tobias said last night.
Ronald Gamboa earned a degree in business administration from Rutgers University in New Jersey.
He was born in the Philippines and had come to the United States with his family when he was just 6 weeks old, his mother said. His parents, who are both family physicians, moved to Louisville in the early 1970s. He graduated from Trinity in the late 1980s -- his mother couldn't remember last night exactly what year.
Other survivors include three sisters: Maria, 36; Regina, 34; and Rachel, 31, and an adopted brother, Andrew, 17.
Renee Gamboa was calm as she talked, but she acknowledged her anger. "My feeling is, I want to hurt somebody. I want to hurt everybody. . . . There's no answer. We're all helpless here."
By Emelyn E. Tapaoan
Special to the Filipino Express
NEW YORK -- Two Filipinos are among the hundreds of confirmed dead in the terrorist strikes on the World Trade Center in New York City Sept. 11.
Ronald Gamboa, 33, was in one of the hijacked planes that crashed into Manhattan landmarks, according to the Philippine Consulate General in New York. Gamboa is a nephew of Alberto Lerma, a judge at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court.
Another Filipino, Ben Rodriguez, died at St. Mary's Hospital, consulate officials said.
Officials also identified seven Filipino among the missing: Grace Alegre Cua, an employee at Mitsui Bank; Hector Tamayo of Vandervilt Construction; Carl Allen Peralta of Canter Fitzgerald Securities; Ramon Grehalvo of Morgan Stanley; Cynthia Betia, Benilda Domingo and Jayceryll Dichavez.
"We are still finding out if there were Filipinos injured or still missing," Consul General Linglingay Lacanlale said. She added the consulate is checking with local hospitals to identify possible Filipino victims.
More are expected to be added to the list. Many Filipinos are believed to be working at the World Trade Center.
"We received calls from anxious relatives from the Philippines asking our assistance to find out for them if their relatives, daughters and sons were safe," Lacanlale said.
She said the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs has provided the consulate a list of names to be checked.
The consulate is keeping its phone lines open 24 hours to respond to the request of concerned relatives. Information is also posted at www.pcngy.net.
Community leaders believe many Filipinos are working as servers at restaurants on the 92nd floors of the 110-story twin towers.
"Very, very sobering," a doctor at the St. Vincent Hospital in Lower Manhattan said of the number of injured brought into the hospital Tuesday.
When asked if it was possible rescuers will be able to find more survivors in the twisted rubble that was once the World Trade Center, Tony Rodrigo, a firefighter from the Bronx said, "It's not."
"I see them," Rodrigo said of the people buried in the rubble, "but I couldn't get them."
The financial capital looked like a "ghost city," after the airborne attack on the twin towers, witnesses said.
The federal government had suspended classes and offices in the city had been closed. Air travel was banned.
"It's devastating, just looking at that scene, the smoke, the darkness," said Potri Ranka Manis, who witnessed the plane crashing into the highest edifice of NYC. Manis, a nurse, lives on 19th Street in Manhattan.
Cynthia Mandac who works in lower Manhattan said she had to walk two hours to take refuge at a friend's place in Queens.
Mandac said she saw "bayanihan," a Filipino term for community cooperation. She said her boss, a doctor, was quick to show kindness. He was among the many New Yorkers who offered people on the road water and fruit juices.
"Unbelievable, the city which is described as 'tough' suddenly turned tender," she said.
On the morning of Sept. 11, two hijacked American Airlines planes tore through the 110-story twin towers of the World Trade Center. By 10:30 a.m., both towers had collapsed.
A third jet struck the Pentagon at 9:40 a.m. A fourth hijacked plane plummeted to earth about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The four planes had a total of 266 passengers.
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