Bouncing back

NEW YORK — Guy F. Tozzoli, 79, stood shifting his weight from one foot to the other, refusing to relax and sit down as he briefed foreign visitors here for nearly an hour Wednesday about the "baby" he had lost – the World Trade Center.

He apologized for having no business cards; all were buried in the rubble of the Twin Towers. Tozzoli, whose name was one of four writ in marble at the entrance to the WTC, would have been at his office on the 77th floor of Tower 1 when it was struck by a plane at 8:48 a.m. on Sept. 11. By a stroke of luck he got stuck in traffic for 45 minutes that morning because of a bus accident as he drove to Manhattan from his home in Westwood, New Jersey. His life was spared, but he watched in horror from across the river as the Twin Towers were brought down by terrorists in two hijacked planes.

"I had worked for 40 years on that project… I devoted my life to that project," he said. "I confess to you that I became very sad and I cried because of all the people there. I would never have thought that the buildings would collapse."

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Tozzoli, a native of New Jersey, has degrees in analytic mechanics and physics from Fordham University. He started his career in 1945 as a junior engineer with The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where he attracted his superiors’ attention by designing the first container terminal.

The two-square-mile area that comprised Lower Manhattan was undeveloped at the time. The only building there, occupied by Chase Manhattan, was constructed by the Rockefellers. To spur development in the area, the Rockefellers decided to build a World Trade Center, which would assist importers and exporters in doing business and using technology more efficiently. Tozzoli was commissioned to supervise the job. He put the late Japanese-American Minoru Yamasaki to work, telling the architect, "I want you to build the tallest towers in the world."

"(Minoru is) up there probably crying because his great work has been destroyed," Tozzoli said, gesturing toward heaven.

Reader’s Digest called the World Trade Center the largest building project since the Egyptian pyramids. Tozzoli said it was the best way to put New York City on the world map.

"Our underlying motive was stability and peace through trade," Tozzoli said. "People who trade together, people who respect each other’s cultures do not make war on each other."

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It took more than a decade and $1.6 billion to realize Tozzoli’s dream. He also set up the private, non-profit World Trade Centers Association, starting out with just 16 members. To this day he is president of the WTCA, encouraging free trade without the burden of politics. Tozzoli’s work in promoting free trade to bring the world closer together has earned him four nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.

He asked his visitors: Do you know John Lennon’s song, "Imagine"? One world without hunger, without religion, a world of peace? "It’s like poetry," he said. "It motivates me . . . Therefore you can understand how we felt on Sept. 11 when criminals — criminals! — terrorists attacked the headquarters of an organization dedicated to peace and stability through trade."

After his initial grief, however, he decided he would not succumb to terrorism. "I got angry. And then I resolved that the WTCA would continue its work . . . Letters of support poured from all over the world, saying we must continue with our work."

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The WTCA has moved to another headquarters on East 42nd Street. Last week the association, ignoring jitters over terrorism, pushed through with its annual meeting in Sao Paulo in Brazil, attended by 220 delegates from 80 cities in 40 countries.

Tozzoli is excited about a World Trade Center soon to rise at the Olympic Village in Beijing. He believes free trade will lead to a more open society in China. He is excited about the projects of the WTCA Corps, which brings medical services, education and mini-lending programs to developing countries. A WTCA "mercy ship," one of five, is being sent to Asia.

But he would not discuss plans for the former site of the Twin Towers, other than that he wanted a peace memorial there. "You cannot imagine the destruction there. TV doesn’t do anything. It’s been a month now since it happened and it’s still terrible," he said.

Despite the continuing terrorist threat, he doesn’t waste his time being scared. Anthrax? "I just have to be more careful," he told me with a smile.

"We bounce back very quickly," he said. "The world will not allow a few criminals to keep it from doing what it’s been doing."