Thursday, May 17, 2012

Robert Cruikshank '58, Martin Wohlforth '76 and Jeffrey Wiener '90

September 26th, 2001, The Daily Princetonian, Three more alumni confirmed dead, By Joshua Tauberer,

Three additional alumni have been confirmed dead after the attack on the World Trade Center.

Robert Cruikshank '58, Martin Wohlforth '76 and Jeffrey Wiener '90 were all killed in New York on Sept. 11.

Wiener, an engineer at Princeton, went on to receive a masters in engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. this May. He worked at General Electric on classified aerospace engineering, and later for Marsh, Inc. in the WTC, his wife Heidi said.

Though initially he was involved in computer programming at Marsh, his interests changed, Heidi said.

Most recently he became a manager at the company and dealt more with clients than with engineering.

Wiener was an active member of his synagogue. "He would help out. He would fill in when our cantor was away," his wife said.

Wiener was also a "video game fanatic," Heidi said, recalling his flight combat simulations and other games.

"He was just always there for any who needed him, whenever they needed him," she said.

"His biggest job was making sure I stayed in school," said Heidi, who is now working on a Ph.D. in cell biology at N.Y.U. Medical Center.

"He really always wanted to give more back to Princeton because he felt he got a lot of it out of it."

Robert Cruikshank was the former vice chairman of the Chicago Board Options Exchange and was working for Carr Futures on the 92nd floor of 1 World Trade Center.

"He loved to ski and play tennis and play golf. He was a terrific father and my best friend for 39 years," said his wife, Marianne. "[He was] the most positive man in the world."

Cruikshank was almost 65. "He not only looked but he acted much younger than he was," said his son, Douglas Cruikshank '87, who has a seven-month-old daughter. "He thought himself so youthful that the moniker grandfather seemed out of place for him . . . We used to tease him. We used the term grandpa, but he always cringed when we said it."

Cruikshank, who was an economics major at the University, considered his time at Princeton "a turning point in his life," his wife said. His family has decided to honor him by establishing a scholarship fund for University students in his name.

Martin "Buff" Wohlforth was a politics major and became an investment banker after graduating from the University. He worked for Sandler O'Neill and Partners on the 104th floor of 2 World Trade Center.

"He was absolutely a man of incredible integrity," said his wife, Susan. Though he was dedicated to his work, she said he made sure he was home for dinner every night. "I think that tells the world about a man."

Wohlforth played golf and won the golf tournament at his last Reunions. But for Wohlforth, winning was not as important as the game itself. "It is the journey not the destination. It is the process not the prize," Susan recalled him saying.

"He was very content with his life, and he was a very, very happy man," she said.

His father, Bob Wohlforth '47, said, "He was an all-around good guy." Bob remembers taking his son to a Princeton basketball game when Martin was 12 years old.

"Bill Bradley certainly inspired him," he explained. "That really turned him on."

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