Kevin M. Cosgrove, 46, of West Islip, was vice president of claims at Aon Corp. He left his office on the 99th floor in the south tower and got as far as the 79th floor before smoke forced him to head back up to the 105th floor. His body was recovered in September 2001.
Every year, for eight consecutive years, Kevin Cosgrove's family relived the last horrendous minutes of his life because of a frantic 911 call he made. The call, which he placed from an office on the 105th floor, ended abruptly with his screams and the sound of debris falling on him as the building came crashing down.
Cosgrove's pleas to the 911 operator for help had been playing over and over on radio and television stations around the anniversary of the terrorist attacks, said his youngest brother, Joseph J. Cosgrove, 51, of Huntington.
"Last year was the first time we did not have to hear him die," he said.
Kevin Cosgrove was close to his youngest brother, who thought their relationship was special. That was until he learned that Cosgrove built strong bonds with all six of his siblings.
"We did everything together," his brother said.
Once, Joseph Cosgrove and his wife visited his brother, and, as was typical, Kevin Cosgrove found a way for the men to sneak out to a bar, leaving their wives behind.
Cosgrove announced he had to go to the post office, and his brother came along for the ride. The brothers arrived at a pub, the Post Office Cafe, once home to actual United States postal office.
"I had no clue," Joseph Cosgrove said about his brother's planned bar trip.
Through the years, the Cosgrove's family remained close to his wife, Wendy Cosgrove, and the couple's children, Brian, 22, Claire, 19, Elizabeth, 14.
Before 9/11, Cosgrove struck a balance between work and family, his brother said. His job demanded long hours but he always managed to find time to home for his three children and be there to watch them play lacrosse and other after-school sports. "He loved his kids and his wife," his brother said. - Chau Lam
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Long Island remembers
Kevin Michael Cosgrove
* Age: 46
* Employer: Aon Corp.
* Place of death: Tower Two
* Community: West Islip
* County: Suffolk
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About Kevin Cosgrove
Kevin M. Cosgrove, 46, of West Islip, was vice president of claims at Aon Corp. He left his office on the 99th floor in the south tower and got as far as the 79th floor before smoke forced him to head back up to the 105th floor. His body was recovered in September 2001.
Every year, for eight consecutive years, Kevin Cosgrove's family relived the last horrendous minutes of his life because of a frantic 911 call he made. The call, which he placed from an office on the 105th floor, ended abruptly with his screams and the sound of debris falling on him as the building came crashing down.
Cosgrove's pleas to the 911 operator for help had been playing over and over on radio and television stations around the anniversary of the terrorist attacks, said his youngest brother, Joseph J. Cosgrove, 51, of Huntington.
"Last year was the first time we did not have to hear him die," he said.
Kevin Cosgrove was close to his youngest brother, who thought their relationship was special. That was until he learned that Cosgrove built strong bonds with all six of his siblings.
"We did everything together," his brother said.
Once, Joseph Cosgrove and his wife visited his brother, and, as was typical, Kevin Cosgrove found a way for the men to sneak out to a bar, leaving their wives behind.
Cosgrove announced he had to go to the post office, and his brother came along for the ride. The brothers arrived at a pub, the Post Office Cafe, once home to actual United States postal office.
"I had no clue," Joseph Cosgrove said about his brother's planned bar trip.
Through the years, the Cosgrove's family remained close to his wife, Wendy Cosgrove, and the couple's children, Brian, 22, Claire, 19, Elizabeth, 14.
Before 9/11, Cosgrove struck a balance between work and family, his brother said. His job demanded long hours but he always managed to find time to home for his three children and be there to watch them play lacrosse and other after-school sports. "He loved his kids and his wife," his brother said. - Chau Lam
This profile was originally published in 2001/2002
In the last minutes of Kevin Cosgrove's life, he called his mother, left a message for his wife, rang his brother and sister and also made a 911 call. Besides making these cell phone calls, the Aon Corp. claims vice president also ran from his 99th floor office and got as far as the 79th floor before the unbearable plumes of smoke forced him to run back up and corner himself in a 105th floor office.
"What do you mean, you're on the 105th floor?" his brother, Joseph Cosgrove asked by telephone.
Kevin Cosgrove, 46, told him that his experience as a company fire marshal had taught him that if he couldn't go down, he should climb back up. His brother urged him to head for the roof so that he could be seen and rescued.
"Listen," the West Islip resident responded, "I'm not coming out of this."
In the few minutes he had, Cosgrove asked his brother to take care of his family and told him to tell them he loved them. Five minutes after the phone went dead, the building he was in came down, his brother said.
"There's not a minute - daytime, nighttime - that goes by that I don't think about our last words together," said Joseph Cosgrove of Huntington.
A week after the terrorist attacks, Wendy Cosgrove was at a funeral home making arrangements for her husband's memorial service. Then she learned that her husband's body had been found. Instead of holding a memorial service, Kevin Cosgrove's family held a funeral and buried him on Sept. 22 in St. Patrick's Cemetery in Huntington.
Now wearing her husband's wedding ring around her neck, Wendy Cosgrove said the funeral helped her family deal with her husband's death.
"I think that closure was very good for us," she said. "Psychologically, we're all handling it all very well."
Besides his wife and brother, Kevin Cosgrove is survived by three children, Brian, 12, Clare, 10, and Elizabeth, 4; his mother, Mary Cosgrove, of Manhasset; another brother, Edward, of Huntington; and four sisters, Maryjane Jones and Patricia Schlosser, both of Huntington, Christine Brooks, of Glen Head, and Susan Janssen, of Mobile, Ala. - Hoa Nguyen
