10/01/2001

Hello Karen,

My name is Liat Levinhar and I am married to Shai Levinhar. I don’t know if Rich ever mentioned Shai’s name but Shai talked a lot about Rich. Shai worked in the eSpeed division of Cantor Fitzgerald and he is still missing.

I wanted to tell you about Rich as I got to know him through Shai’s stories. I don’t know if it will help you to deal with this overwhelming pain but I hope it would. I found that hearing stories about Shai and learning how special he was to other people (besides me) really help sometimes.

Shai met Rich two years ago when he came to an interview for a job at Cantor Fitzgerald. Shai went through about 8-10 interviews that day but when he came home he talked only about Rich. He liked Rich’s child-like interest in little gadgets. Rich asked him to write a small program on the board and then took his picture with a special camera (Shai and his program in the middle and pictures of NYC around it) and gave it to Shai as a souvenir (throughout the years Shai told me about many other gadgets as well).

When Shai was accepted to eSpeed he worked directly under Rich’s supervision. As time passed he grew close to Rich. I think it is safe to say that Shai admired Rich. Shai was an extremely talented person and he was not easily impressed. But he thought Rich is very special. He appreciated Rich’s dedication to work. He thought that Rich is extremely smart and hard working. The only thing he didn’t understand was Rich’s ability to wake up in the middle of the night and go to work (he said that Rich was there every day at 5:00am ?!?).

Rich loved you and his son very much. I remember that he saved his days off so he will be able to take a two weeks vacation when Zachary was born (Shai learned from him and took two weeks after our daughter, Sapir, was born this summer). Shai brought CDs home from time to time. CDs with Zachary’s pictures and movies. We really liked the Halloween CD. I think we showed it to all our friends. Rich spoke with Shai about you and about Zachary all the time. …

Rich had special management techniques. Often Shai came home with “homework”. Rich always gave him books to read and ideas to think about. I remember that one night Shai showed up at the door around 10:00pm with “The Animal Farm” video movie. When I asked what it is Shai said that Rich told them to read the book for a meeting that was scheduled for the next morning. Shai always read really slow in English so he decided to take a shortcut and rented the movie. The next day he showed at the meeting and excelled. He was almost the only one that knew the answers to Rich’s questions about the book. I wonder if Rich ever found out that he cheated J

In the last year (after Rich moved to a new position) they didn’t work together anymore. But there was still a special connection between them. Rich wrote a book about management and once a week he met with Shai, they discussed management problems and solutions and got new ideas for the book. …. Although Rich was not Shai’s boss anymore he was always there when Shai needed guidance, or advice, …

Rich was very special for Shai. He was his mentor, his friend, and his guide in the mysterious Wall Street world. That is why I felt that I needed to write you this e-mail. I wanted you to know how much Rich was loved and appreciated among his colleagues.

I try hard to believe that everything happens for a reason. It is very hard but I have to work on that cause if there is no reason then the only other explanation is that the world is evil and cruel (and I really don’t want to believe that). I am not a great believer but in this case I think that God needed them for a special mission. I wish God have waited 60 or 70 years before recruiting them but it just didn’t work that way. I get a little comfort when I think of all the great people that went with Shai. People like your Rich and like David Silver that are going to keep him company until it will be our time to join them.

It is extremely hard to be strong (sometimes I feel that my 8 weeks old daughter lost her father and mother on the same day). But we have to be strong. Be strong for our children but also for our husbands. We had amazing husbands and I know that they would want us to raise our children just as we planned with them. It is much easier to write this than to do it. But when I write I realize time after time that this must be their testament to us: to keep going, to be strong, to raise our children in their image. To remember them with a smile (not tears), to be happy and raise happy children. When I wake up every morning and I realize that he is not next to me I break down. But then I try to collect the pieces and go through the day. I want to believe that some day it will become easier (although it is hard to believe that a day will come when I will think about him without crying). Until that day I rely on my family and my friends to get me through the day. And I talk about him. All day long. He may not be here anymore but he will never be forgotten. At least not as long as I live.

Your husband gave a lot to my husband and I just wanted you to know that if you ever need anything I am here for you.

Sincerely yours,

Liat