Memories for Gerard Rauzi

Former coworker: 'We got along perfectly'

Fresh out of college, I worked at 2 World Trade Center with the New York State Department of Taxation & Finance as a Corporation Tax Auditor.

We were divided into teams. Two individuals, Gerard Rauzi and Steve Berger, were part of my team. We got along perfectly. We used to go for drinks after work and enjoyed working together ... and bet on who was able to the get the most money for the state during the audits. In the year 1983, I quit working for the State of New York and became self employed. Yet, I never stopped visiting my friends at the tax office. The tax department moved some of its operations to Maiden Lane near the World Trade Center. Jerry and Steve got promoted and they were sent back to the World Trade Center. And you can guess what happened to them on September 11, 2001.

They never found their bodies. I did not find out of their deaths until one year later when I called to pay a visit to their office. William Emslie, our former supervisor, gave me the bad news. I would like to take this opportunity to say that these two friends did not deserve what happened to them. I pray for their souls everytime.

My condolences to Steve's wife and to Jerry's family. They will never be forgotten. I have another 9/11 story to tell. On Sept. 10, 2001, I went to the office of the NYS workers compensation office in church street three or four blocks from the World Trade Center to get workers compensation insurance for one of my clients. At that time I used to drive a Ford Expedition. I remember it was a bright sunny day. As I got off the Battery Tunnel, I turned right and stopped at the light west of the 2 World Trade Center.

I looked at the tower and it looked particularly beautiful and bright that day, and I reminisced of when I used to work there as an auditor when I was younger. I kept going and parked in a meter on church street one block away from the World Trade Center facing south, I went on with my business and the clerk at the workers compensation insurance office on church street told me I was missing some documents. I told her I would be back that day. When I got back to the car, I found a ticket on my car indicating that the inspection was expired.

Well, I said to myself "tomorrow morning I will bring my car for inspection, and then come back here to finish getting the insurance for my client." Next morning, I woke up really early, and as my car was being inspected, I heard the flash news on the mechanic's radio that the first tower had been hit.

Wow I said to myself. Imagine if I had stayed working with the state and imagine if I did not get that ticket the previous day. I was supposed to be in that area. I think this was a message from my higher power and I am very grateful. I still remember looking at that tower on September 10. Nothing happens by mistake. Maybe since I was a good auditor I would also been promoted like my friends were and I would not have been telling this story. God Bless.

Marco Castellar