Frank De Martini

Lore & Background

De Martini was born on March 31, 1952 to an Italian-American family. He was hired in 1993 to assess damage to the World Trade Center from the 1993 bombing. He later became construction manager, overseeing changes to indoor layouts such as wall removal and plumbing rearrangement at the request of occupants. In 2001, he and his wife had two children, Dominick and Sabrina, and were living in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Reader's Guide

On September 11, 2001, De Martini and his colleagues Pablo Ortiz, Peter Negron, Mak Hanna, and Carlos da Costa were on the 88th floor of the North Tower when American Airlines Flight 11 struck a few floors above. They worked to free people trapped in elevators, including Daria Coard, and cleared a stairwell entrance, directing occupants to safety. De Martini assured his wife he would follow her, but instead gathered tools to continue rescues. The group ascended to the 89th floor, smashing through drywall to free occupants, and then freed groups on floors 90 and 91. They descended, freeing more people from the 86th floor and the skylobby. De Martini, Ortiz, Negron, and da Costa died when the North Tower collapsed at 10:28 AM; Hanna survived because he was carrying an elderly man downstairs. De Martini's remains were never found. His actions are documented in several documentaries, and he is memorialized at the National September 11 Memorial on Panel S-27.

Did You Know?

• De Martini was hired in 1993 to assess damage from the World Trade Center bombing.
• He and his colleagues freed people from elevators on the 88th floor, including Daria Coard.
• Mak Hanna was the only member of De Martini's rescue crew to survive, as he was carrying an elderly man downstairs when the tower collapsed.

Professional Life at the World Trade Center

Francis Albert De Martini was an American architect of Italian-American heritage who built his career around the World Trade Center complex. His path to the towers began in 1993, when he was brought in to evaluate the structural and interior damage caused by the earlier bombing of the complex. That assignment evolved into a longer role: he became the construction manager for the Port Authority of New York, the agency responsible for overseeing the buildings. In that capacity, De Martini handled the day-to-day physical modifications that tenants requested—removing interior walls, rerouting plumbing, and reshaping office layouts to suit the needs of the companies that occupied the floors. His work was practical and hands-on, the kind of behind-the-scenes labor that kept a massive office complex functional and adaptable. By 2001, he had been embedded in the building's operations for over seven years, making him intimately familiar with its systems, stairwells, and the people who worked within them. That familiarity would prove critical on the morning of September 11.

The Morning of September 11

On the morning of September 11, 2001, De Martini arrived early at his 88th-floor office in the North Tower, joining colleagues Pablo Ortiz, Peter Negron, Mak Hanna, and Carlos da Costa for coffee. His wife Nicole was there as well. At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 struck the tower a few floors above their level, and every elevator in the building stopped. De Martini assured his wife he would follow her down. Instead, he and his four coworkers began collecting tools and moving through the upper floors to free people trapped in stalled elevators and behind blocked exits. They worked upward—smashing through drywall to open sealed doors on the 89th floor, liberating groups of workers on floors 90 and 91, then doubling back to the 86th floor and the skylobby, where they freed two more people stuck in an elevator. At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower collapsed. De Martini, Ortiz, Negron, and da Costa perished in the fall; Hanna, who was still helping an elderly man on a lower floor, was the sole survivor of the five. De Martini's remains were never recovered or identified.

The Lives They Saved

The rescue work carried out by De Martini and his four coworkers on the upper floors of the North Tower is estimated to have saved approximately 77 lives. Starting on the 88th floor, they freed Daria Coard, an elevator worker, and numerous Port Authority employees, including Joanne Ciccolello, Jim Connors, and Patricia Cullen. They also cleared the entrance to one of the building's three stairwells and directed fellow occupants downward. On the 89th floor, they broke through drywall beside a blocked door so trapped workers could escape; an 89-year-old man, Moses Lipson, was carried down the stairs by a colleague, while an asthmatic woman, Judith Reese, was assisted before firefighters took over—Reese and the firefighters did not survive. Higher up, on floors 90 and 91, they liberated additional groups, including electricians and a Scottish painter, Vanessa Lawrence. On the way back down, they freed six more people from the 86th floor and, in the skylobby, rescued Anthony Savas and Kristina Morales from a stalled elevator. Some of those they freed, such as Charles Magee and Anthony Segarra, ultimately did not survive the day, but the vast majority walked out alive because of those minutes of effort.

Personal Life and Memorial

Francis Albert De Martini was born on March 31, 1952, into an Italian-American family. By the time of his death, he and his wife Nicole were raising two children, Dominick and Sabrina, in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. He was survived by his wife and both children. His story has been told in several documentaries, including 9/11: Heroes of the 88th Floor, 9/11: The Twin Towers, and Rise and Fall: The World Trade Center, each drawing on survivor accounts of his actions that morning. At the National September 11 Memorial, his name is inscribed on Panel S-27 at the South Pool, listed alongside other first responders. Because his remains were never recovered or identified, his memorial exists as an inscription rather than a physical grave—a permanent marker for a man whose final act was to climb higher into a damaged building to pull strangers to safety.