‘Vast Majority’ of Towers Workers Safe

NEW YORK — Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. Chairman Philip Purcell said Wednesday that the “the vast majority” of its 3,500 World Trade Center employees survived the terrorist attack on the buildings, as other firms searched for missing workers.

More than a day after two hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center’s twin towers, turning a New York landmark into a pile of rubble, banks, brokerages and financial firms said they still cannot account for about 3,000 employees.

Other companies also announced the loss of employees who were passengers on the airplanes that were crashed into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and into the ground near Pittsburgh.

Raytheon Co. said four employees were passengers on the planes, including Stanley Hall, of Rancho Palos Verdes. Hall, 68, was the company’s director of program management.

Fred Alger Management Inc., which manages about $16 billion, said in a statement that its president, David Alger, probably died in the trade center, and it can’t locate 38 of the 55 employees who worked at its offices there. Fred Alger, the chairman and David’s brother, will assume the presidency, while Dan Chung will take over as chief investment officer.

UnionBanCal Corp., the No. 2 California-based bank, said all 100 employees that were in the World Trade Center during the attack are alive.

Verizon Communications Inc., New York’s local phone company, said it had 488 employees based on floors 9-12 of the World Trade Center’s south tower, and that nearly all of them were evacuated and have been accounted for.

But there were exceptions.

Verizon said one of its technicians was on the 110th floor tending to a phone switch along with a Verizon contractor and three employees from Genuity, a data company spun off from Verizon.

At one point after the attack, the Verizon technician called his supervisor to say the group had made their way to the 80th floor but could go no further and headed for the roof.

Fiduciary Trust Company International, a unit of Franklin Resources Inc., said it found that “a vast majority” of its employees who worked at the World Trade Center were safe.

Marsh & McLennan Cos. said on its company Web site that 700 of its 1,700 employees in the twin towers were still missing as of midday. Chairman Jeffrey Greenberg said 1,000 of them are safe.

Citigroup Inc., the biggest financial-services company, had employees of its Salomon Smith Barney investment bank at World Trade Center 7, adjacent to the towers, which collapsed last night. The building “was evacuated very early but nobody knows if they’re safe,” said company spokesman Stephen Goldman.

Merrill Lynch & Co. said it had evacuated 9,000 employees from its offices at 4 World Financial Center, across the highway from the World Trade Center, and was still seeking to confirm that all its employees were safe.

Empire BlueCross BlueShield, the fourth-largest tenant in the World Trade Center, said it still hadn’t accounted for 39 of its 1,914 employees.

Cantor Fitzgerald, which trades about a fourth of the U.S. government bond market, said it doesn’t know how many of its 1,000 employees in offices on the 101st-105th floors of 1 World Trade Center were in the building during the attack. Included among the firm’s missing is William Meehan, chief market analyst.

Cantor Fitzgerald’s Chairman Howard Lutnick was in New York, but out of the office at the time of the attacks. Harry Fry, a senior managing director in New York, was in Houston visiting a Cantor subsidiary. Other known survivors include William “Bud” Flanagan, a senior managing director and a former U.S. Navy admiral, Steve Merkel, the general counsel, Phil Ginsberg and Michael Williams. So far, 85 of its World Trade Center employees were accounted for, CBS Radio reported.

More than 40,000 people worked in the complex of seven buildings.

Bear Stearns Cos. instructed most employees in its midtown Manhattan offices to stay home, except for those in the travel department, administration or information technology. The firm opened its offices in Whippany, N.J., and in Metrotech, Brooklyn.

“We haven’t been notified of anyone that is missing,” said Elizabeth Ventura, a spokeswoman.

Credit Suisse First Boston said 800 employees were safely evacuated from an office building next to the World Trade Center towers. The firm said on its Web site that its business was open.

Deutsche Bank, Europe’s largest bank, said its 360 World Trade Center employees were evacuated from the towers.

Deutsche Bank, which occupied four floors in 4 World Trade Center and space in 130 Liberty St., across the street from the World Trade Center Towers, will likely send employees to its midtown locations and to a backup facility in New Jersey.

Bank of America Corp. said it has contacted many of its 400 employees who worked in the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Tice would not say how many employees the company had located until it can account for all of them. The employees occupied floors 9, 11 and 81 in the World Trade Center south tower.

New York-based investment bank Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc. said more than 75 of its 170 employees in the buildings hadn’t been located. The missing employees make up nearly 31% of the company’s U.S. work force.

Banking giant Wachovia Corp. said it has accounted for most of its its 48 capital management employees who worked in the World Trade Center.

The employees worked previously for First Union Corp., which on Sept. 1 acquired Wachovia Corp.

AON Corp., an insurance broker and underwriter, said in a conference call that “the vast majority” of its 1,100 employees in the World Trade Center have been accounted for as of Wednesday afternoon.

AON checked on employees by calling their homes, said spokesman Stephen Ban.

Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. leased several floors in the World Trade Center. The securities firm isn’t giving any details about personnel at this time.

Lehman’s U.S. headquarters, where about 5,000 people are employed, is at 3 World Financial Center, across the street from the World Trade Center.

American Express Co. said it believes all of its 3,000 employees who worked in or near the World trade Center complex are alive.

Oppenheimer Funds Inc., a money manager majority owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., and the mutual fund arms of Citigroup Inc. said their employees were safe.

Apparel retailer TJX Cos. said seven employees in its merchandising operations were passengers on American Airlines Flight 11 to Los Angeles from Boston.

Sun Microsystems Inc. said all of is employees in the World Trade Center were found alive, but the company said Phil Rosenzweig, 47, an engineering director in the software unit, died aboard American Airlines Flight 11.

BEA Systems Inc. said engineer Ed Felt of New Jersey was killed on United Airlines Flight 93 bound for San Francisco from Newark.

Paging company Metrocall Inc. said Chief Operating Officer Steven Jacoby was on American Airlines Flight 77.

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The Associated Press, Reuters and Times Staff were used in compiling this report.