Short Hills Resident Suggests Adding Wording About Survivors to 9/11 Memorial

MILLBURN, NJ — Jean Pasternak spoke to township committee members about adding wording about survivors to the Millburn 9/11 memorial. She stated, “I have written to each of you about the 9/11 Memorial aspect of adding this survivor wording on the different plaques, and I did get a reply, and I appreciate those replies.”

She explained that her husband was exposed to toxins that he inhaled from the burning pile after returning to downtown Manhattan to work. She shared, “We were unaware of the connection between the 9/11 toxins and his unusual cancer in his 40s, only by chance, more than 15 years later, through a conversation in the oncologist's waiting room with another survivor, did he make that connection.”

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Then he was cared for under the auspices of the World Trade Center Health Program and the Victim Compensation fund, which she reported was a huge help to their family. “We would like to help ensure other families are made aware of what we came to know very late, given our town's proximity to the toxic zone and the potential for others in our town to have been impacted and also unaware, we're proposing that the survivors be acknowledged, and an awareness statement be made about the 9/11 survivors at the same time,” Pasternak noted.

She suggested that the wording should be: “This 911 Memorial is dedicated to Township of Millburn residents who died on the morning of September 11, 2001, those who survived and those whose lives were changed forever on that day.”

Committee Member Ben Stoller supported Pasternak’s request, “Jean Pasternak, I 100% agree with you on 9/11. I was down there multiple times with some volunteer fire folks who were living or staying in our home in South Orange at the time. We went down multiple, multiple times, just a tragedy, and people being affected multiple, multiple years, 10, 20, 30 years later, absolutely should be acknowledged.”

Committee Member Michael Cohen said he fully supported Pasternak’s idea.

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Jeff Feld stated, “My wife was in the World Trade Center both times, and we've been advocating for about three years to amend that plaque. Also, we have a resident whose brother was in one of the planes. It's time to recognize that we all suffered on that day, and it wasn't just firemen, it wasn't just people in that building. Everyone suffered for their lives.”

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