I sent in an adoption form to the God Bless America Victim's Memorial Website and in return, I received Tom Pecorelli's plaque. I wanted to put something more on my page that just the plaque so I searched the internet, and here is everything I found. Though I never met Tom, I see him through the eyes of those who knew him, and I feel their loss.
I miss you Tom, can't wait to meet you on the other side.
Love, Alix
I want to clarify that Tom was only 30 at the time of his death, and he was on American Airlines Flight 11. I am not going to correct the actual articles, because the inaccuracies in themselves show the confusion as well as the urgent need for information that permeated the nation in the wake of the tragedy.
My sincere thanks to Angela Veltsos, for her help with this page. I want to express my deepest sympathy to her and everyone in Tom's family.When American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center it was the beginning of a tragedy for thousands of innocent people and their loved ones. Among the innocent killed was a husband, an expectant father, a friend--a Topangan.
THOMAS PECORELLI
(pictured, above), age 31, of Los Angeles, a cameraman with Fox Sports and E! Entertainment Television, was headed home to his pregnant wife on American Flight 11. "Tom made everyone laugh," a family statement said.
From myCFnow.com
Cameraman Pecorelli Identified as Hijacking Victim
By Staff
September 14, 2001 03:58 PM PDT
Cameraman Thomas Pecorelli has been identified as one of the victims on the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93, bound for San Francisco from Newark, New Jersey but crashed into western Pennsylvania. Pecorelli shot for E! Entertainment TV and Fox Sports Net. He journeyed to Boston to visit his sick father and to go to a friend's wedding. This week "Talk Soup" on the E! channel will feature a tribute to Pecorelli, who was expecting his first child. Pecorelli was 30.
From Cinematographer.comA memorial fund has been established for one of our own, camera operator Tom Pecorelli.
Those wishing to donate should write:The Thomas Pecorelli Memorial Fund
in benefit of Kia Pavloff Pecorelli
c/o Bruce Brar @Washington Mutual Bank
22001 Ventura Blvd.
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
818-347-9943
From E! Online
Thomas Pecorelli Memorial Fund Established
By Staff
September 17, 2001 05:10 PM PDT
A memorial fund has been established for the family of Thomas Pecorelli, a cameraman who lost his life on the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11. Pecorelli worked at Fox Sports News and E! Entertainment Television. Pecorelli left behind his wife Kia, who is three months pregnant with their first child.Donations in the form of a check may be made to:
For the Benefit of Kia Pavloff
Account number 389-451965-9Mail donations to:
Washington Mutual Branch
22001 Ventura Blvd.
Woodland Hills, CA 91354
From Cinematographer.com
Handful of relatives of local people were victims
By ALISON GERBER, agerber@news-press.com
A former Fort Myers TV cameraman and sports reporter died in one of the hijacked planes that slammed into the World Trade Center Tuesday, leaving a wife pregnant with their first child.Tom had been working on a documentary,"Man ln Search of Immortality"Tom Pecorelli, who worked for WZVN-TV, ABC7, in 1994 and 1995, died on American flight 11 out of Boston, where he traveled for a wedding and to visit his father, Nat.
The horror that hit Manhattan and the Pentagon on Tuesday spread its tentacles into all corners of the country, including Southwest Florida.
People here mourned Wednesday the loss of loved ones or clung to hope that missing relatives would be pulled alive from the debris.
Just in the Lee and Collier County offices of the state court system, at least five employees had relatives at the Trade Center or Pentagon on Tuesday.
“We keep hearing stories. It makes you realize how a faraway event like this reaches down and touches people in other parts of the country,” said Deputy Court Administrator Ken Kellum. “So many people here migrated from somewhere else. And the (towers) were such a nerve center of commerce, there’s always someone visiting.”
The terrorism that killed Americans on American soil left people with the same frightening thought: That could have been my child, my spouse, my brother.
“I used to worry about Tom when he rollerbladed and when he drove a car,” said Pecorelli’s mother, Elaine Dyer, a former Naples resident who now lives in Corona, Calif.
“I never thought anything like this would happen,” she said between sobs. “He shouldn’t have been on that airplane. It isn’t right.”
Pecorelli on Tuesday was returning home to the Los Angeles area, where he worked as a cameraman for Fox Sports News Network. He boarded flight 11, that left Boston at 7:58 a.m. and crashed into the north Trade Center tower less than an hour later.
Pecorelli, who was 30, expected his first child in April with wife Kia.
“He had just shown our dad the ultrasound photos of the baby on Sunday,” said Pecorelli’s sister, Lisa Brightman, of Naples. “He was all excited.”
“He was just a super guy, very talented,” said Harry Horn, news anchor for ABC7. “You just knew he was going to make it.”
The final death toll in attacks that toppled the World Trade Center and blasted the Pentagon may be weeks away.
Chris Wilkinson, a courts system probation officer, lost a cousin in the Trade Center rubble.
Elsie Gonzalez, a courts interpreter, was still awaiting word on her son, Jason, a Pentagon worker still missing Tuesday afternoon.
Other court employees got good news about loved ones who made it out unscathed.
Fort Myers resident Susanne Hastings Windeler spent Tuesday worried about her son, Jason Onserud, a sports trainer who often works out of gyms at the Trade Center. She breathed easier Wednesday, after hearing he was safe. “I’m relieved, but it’s hard to be relieved, because there’s still so much loss and so much sorrow.”
Fort Myers resident Jill Huff was still trying to reach an elementary school friend on Wednesday.
“My mom got her machine, but we don’t know if she’s OK,” Huff said. “I’m just really worried. Really, really worried.”
Bill Evans, community relations manager of the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Naples, was drained but still trying to function as normal Wednesday after learning that a niece and nephew had been on a school field trip to the twin towers Tuesday.
“I feel like my head has been squashed between two bricks,” he said.
“We discovered that they had made it within a block of the World Trade Center” before one of the towers collapsed, he said. The niece, 11, and nephew, 9, from suburban Philadelphia, were safe and spent the night with their classmates in Manhattan.
Carmela Heidig, a Cape Coral resident who used to work on the 19th floor of the first Trade Center tower, aches for her hometown.
“A lot of my elementary school friends worked there,” she said. “I’ve lost some friends, I know that much. It’s hard, when I’m down here.”
The attacks have left New Yorkers stunned, angry, hurt and in a state of disbelief, said Liam Farrell, a Fort Myers Beach native who now lives in New York City.
“Just to see the skyline without the twin towers, it’s so weird. It’s chilling,” said Farrell, who lives in the Bronx and works in Manhattan. “But everyone has American flags up and there’s a lot of pride. You don’t really question your freedom until it’s contested.”
Families here and elsewhere won’t recover from the shock soon — if ever.
Brighton, Pecorelli’s sister, said she doesn’t know if it will ever happen. The birth of her niece or nephew will bittersweet.
“I hope he has a boy,” she said. “He was the only boy in a family of four girls. If the baby is a boy, that’s the closest thing to Tom.”
— Staff writer Mary Wozniak contributed to this report. It was a high followed by a terrible low, as I woke up the next morning to the horrible images of the World Trade Center attack on the news. Like every other American, my husband and I sat, silent, for hours in front of the television, not believing what we were seeing. We've watched CNN almost every waking moment since, flown the flag, lit a candle every night for the victims and their families. My heart goes out to every person touched by the attacks, and in fact every American was touched in some way, either directly or indirectly. On Talk Soup, we lost a wonderful and beloved camera man, Tom Pecorelli. We miss him dearly.
From News-Press.com, Southwest Florida's Most Read Information Source
From Aisha - September 25, 2001
(EXCERPT)From The Official Aisha Tyler Homepage
This is from that site05.01.01 - Tom Pecorelli, a new addition to the crew, has recently returned from the Greek Republic with several hours of amazing footage.
9.11.01 - Today we lost a dear friend and colleague, Tom Pecorelli, in the terrorist attack in New York. He was on a flight from Boston to Los Angeles when his plane was hijacked and directed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Tom was one of the most talented people I knew and will be truly missed. Our thoughts are with his family.
Tragedy Touches Topanga
Topangan Killed on Flight 11
By Sarah Margolis
VOL. 25 NO. 19 Thomas Pecorelli, 30, was just creating his life in our community with his wife, Kia Pavloff, who is three months pregnant. Having rented since 1999, they were starting to search for a house to make into a home for their first child. Pecorelli had gone to Boston to the wedding of a friend and to visit his father. He was so excited about becoming a father he carried with him a photograph of the ultrasound of his baby to show everyone.
September 20 - October 3, 2001TRAGEDY TOUCHES TOPANGA
Topangan Killed on Flight 11Our Community Tries to Cope
A Son Escapes the World Trade Center
An American Specter Witness to a Shattered World
We Respond to Tragedy with Prayer"His middle name is Nicholas. And we think he is Saint Nicholas" because of the love he showed for all children, said Michelle Kister, a close friend from Marina del Rey. "He was there for you no matter what."
A native of Newberry, Massachusetts, Tom went to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and then moved to Florida to work in television as a cameraman. In the mid-1990s, he moved to Los Angeles and was one of the first people hired at Fox Sports Net. In addition to being a creative and talented cameraman, Tom also wrote many of his own segments and did work for E! Entertainment Television and the Emmys and Academy Awards shows.
Kia, who grew up outside Detroit, was in advertising sales when she and Tom met through mutual friends in Seattle in 1998. They married in 1999, at which time Kia joined Tom in Topanga. Kia recently quit her job in expectation of their child.
Tom discovered Topanga driving around one day four years ago and immediately knew this was the place for him. A hiker from a small town, Topanga was his sanctuary. The beauty and calm of our mountains and people took him away from the crazy entertainment industry world. "There was no question that that was where they needed to be," Kister said.
Pecorelli has been called a "Renaissance man" with a beautiful singing voice at karaoke gatherings and parties, Kister said. "He was always the one that kept the whole thing going."
For the past few months, Tom was a member of the Santa Monica improvisational comedy group the Groundlings. One of Tom's best friends, David Kister, who met him in 1996, said he was "one of the funniest, most talented people I ever met."
"He was the glue to our family," writes his sister Angela in a letter posted on topangaonline.com. In a report on KABC, Los Angeles, Kia said, "He did so much for everybody he touched. [The baby] is the only thing that's keeping me going. I wouldn't be able to eat. . .This baby is making me."
Friends and family have started a shrine in his memory around one of the pine trees closest to the Creek Man sculpture holding the American flag at Pine Tree Circle. All flowers and notes of memories of him and good wishes to his loved ones are appreciated. They are also developing a memorial website: www.geocities.com/ tompecorelli.
A memorial fund for Kia and Tom's unborn baby has been set up by friends and family. To donate to their cause send checks to:
Tom Pecorelli Memorial Fund,
Acct. # 389-451965-9,
Washington Mutual,
22001 Ventura Boulevard,
Woodland Hills, CA 91364,
Attn: Bruce Brar.A memorial service will be held for Thomas Pecorelli on Thursday, September 20 at 9:30 a.m. at St. Bernadine's Church, 24410 Calvert Street, Woodland Hills.
Shrine for Tom at Pine Tree Circle
Creek Man (or "Iron Man") a sculpture in Pine Tree Circle,
has become a shrine to Tom and all who died September 11th
TOPANGA, CA, September 12, 2001 -- Tom Pecorelli, a multi-talented cameraman with Fox Sports, E! Entertainment Television, and numerous award shows, including the Emmys and the Oscars. He was the beloved husband of Kia Pavloff and an exuberantly expectant father. Memorial Page for Tom Pecorelli on Topanga Online
Tom Pecorelli
October 8, 1970 to September 11, 2001A memorial service will be held Thursday, September 20th, at 9:30am, at:
Saint Bernardine of Siena Catholic Church
24410 Calvert Street
Woodland hills
(from 101 West, take Valley Circle Blvd north, turn left at Calvert.)Tom was loved and respected dearly by all who were lucky enough to know him, as he touched the lives of everyone he met.
Besides being behind the camera, Tom made everyone laugh and enjoy his incredible gifts of singing, performing and expertly acting out characters on the stage. He will be dearly missed, as he was an integral part of the lives of his friends and family.
***************************************************************** Tom was among those aboard American Airlines Flight # 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
A Memorial Fund has been set up for Tom's wife Kia and their unborn child. You can make a donation at any Washington Mutual Bank under the following account:
(make checks payable): You can also mail a donation directly to the Washington Mutual branch at:
"For the Benefit of Kia Pavloff"
Also write on the check: Account # 389-451965-9
Attn: Bruce Brar On behalf of Tom's Family we would like to thank those of you have already made a contribution, and also thank all of you who feel led to make a contribution in the future. We ask that you all keep Tom, Kia and his family in your prayers.
Tom Pecorelli Memorial Fund
Acct # 389-451965-9
Washington Mutual
22001 Ventura Blvd
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
Thomas N. Pecorelli 1970 - 2001
September 9th 2002 - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/09/national/portraits/POG-09PECORELLI.htmlThomas Nicholas Pecorelli: A Dream of Fatherhood
Thomas Nicholas Pecorelli knew what he wanted. When he was only 12, he signed on as an unpaid apprentice at a cable television station near his family home in Newburyport, Mass. He was 30 when he boarded American Airlines Flight 11 on Sept. 11, well on the way to a successful career in television production. But something else had taken over as the priority of his life.
"His dream was to be a father, and it was coming true," said Mr. Pecorelli's mother, Elaine Dyer, of Corona, Calif. His wife, Kia Pavloff-Pecorelli gave birth to his son, Nicholas Thomas Pecorelli, on March 19.
After working his way through high school for the local cable channel, and graduating from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, he worked as a sports cameraman and announcer in Florida, produced commercials in Tucson, Ariz., and then moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a cameraman at the Academy Awards ceremony and other events.
But he also remained close to friends in Massachusetts, and had flown back to attend the wedding of a friend near Boston on the weekend before Sept. 11.
Creative Web Designs by Angela
Angela Veltsos's page, with a Memorial to her Brother, Tommy
"Remembrance"
poem written by Angels'a daughter Melanie for her Uncle TommyTom Pecorelli Memorial Page at Geocities
Thomas Pecorelli Memorial Page by Barry and Carol Coaker
Thomas Pecorelli Memorial Page at The Web Depot
Tom Pecorelli Memorial at FOXSports.Com
"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted."
Matthew 5:4
