Cosgrove met his wife Wendy Cosgrove in 1980 when she was working as a waitress, and they were married a few months later.[3] Cosgrove and his family lived in West Islip, New York.[4][5][6] Cosgrove was a vice president of claims for Aon Corporation and also served as fire warden for the company.[7]
Phone call and death
According to the 9-1-1 recording played during the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, Cosgrove was located in the northwest corner of the 105th floor in the South Tower, overlooking the World Financial Center when he called 9-1-1 at 9:54 am.[8]
In the recording, Cosgrove tells 9-1-1 dispatchers that he is calling from survivor Jonathan 'Jon' Ostrau's office (Cosgrove misspelled it as John Ostaru) and that he has two other individuals with him (including fellow disaster victim Douglas Cherry). Cosgrove tells the operator "my wife thinks I'm all right; I called and said I was leaving the building and that I was fine, and then bang!"
A 9-1-1 operator later calls him back; he answers, "hello. We're looking in [...] we're overlooking the Financial Center. Three of us. Two broken windows." A rumbling sound is then heard, and Cosgrove is subsequently heard crying out "Oh, God! Oh—!" in terror before his call abruptly cuts off and ends as the South Tower collapses at 9:59 am.[8][9][10]
Cosgrove's remains were found in the rubble. He was buried on September 22, 2001, at St. Patrick Catholic Cemetery in Huntington, New York.[11] He was 46 years old.[12] He was survived by his wife, Wendy Cosgrove, a schoolteacher, and his three children.[5][2]
Cosgrove's obituary stated that "he could often be seen shovelling the walks of elderly widows in winter and helping elderly couples carry bulky packages throughout the year."[13]
Wendy Cosgrove testified during the punishment phase of Zacarias Moussaoui's trial, in which prosecutors sought the death penalty. Wendy Cosgrove testified about her husband's final moments when he was on the South Tower's 105th floor, and jurors heard an audio tape of Cosgrove's 9-1-1 phone call in which he told a dispatcher "we're not ready to die."[5][14] Wendy Cosgrove also spoke of the negative effects of Cosgrove's death on their children.[5][15]
