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Andrew Stergiopoulos Date of Birth: March 7, 1978 Department: Product Development “Not often in the story of mankind does a man like Andrew arrive on earth. To know him was to know him well. Andrew was incapable of half measures, and to know him well was to love him. He was a born leader; he excelled at everything he did; and he inspired by his example. This is a man who taught us what it means to be alive, and there falls along with him a whole wing of the palace of our lives.” These words were spoken at Andrew’s memorial by one of his best friends. Andrew was a truly remarkable young man. He was talented, intelligent, quick-witted and most definitely unique; his short life was productive and active. He was a natural athlete, a born leader. His competitive nature drove him to excel at everything he did. He was always surrounded by friends, and family who loved him. He was so many good things all rolled up into one amazing young man. Thank you, Andrew, for being my son, for the great memories you created, the good times we all shared and for the insights into life that you provided us. Andrew, your father and I are proud to call you our son. You were truly a light in our lives, a shining star, our golden boy. You made everyone laugh, that is something we will always cherish. We’re thankful for the short time we had with you. Andrew, we will never forget you, you are here with us always, I can still see your smile, hear you laugh. You were kind, sensitive and protective of those you loved, a loyal son, brother and friend. May God give you peace; we will love and cherish you always. Andrew, you are sadly missed but your spirit lives in every life you touched. We loved you living and we love you still. I long for the time when I can be with you again.
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I remember the day I met Andrew (Sterg), I was signing into the Desk at the WTC on my first day at eSpeed and he came up to me introduced himself with that confident smile. Being both our first days, I was of course nervous, but you never would have guessed that Andrew hadn’t worked there for years. His confidence and positive attitude would always amaze me from that day forward.
I came to know Andrew not only from work, but also from many happy hours and nights out in New York. He was not only someone who was quick to crack a joke to entertain his friends, but he also knew how to make the people around him feel good about themselves. Also, the way he cared for others came through in the way he often spoke about his family and friends and how important they were to him.
Andrew’s passing is one of the hardest for me; he was my same age, had a very similar upbringing and had the same type of goals. There is no doubt in my mind that he would have been incredibly successful.
My thoughts and prayers are with all of his family and friends and I hope that everyone who knew him can take the joy for life that Andrew possessed and try to emulate it into their own lives.
I can sum up Stergie like this, I knew him for a year and I felt like I knew him my whole life. He was one of the most caring, charismatic and funny people I ever met. To know him was to feel close to him and to want to be around him. He had this way of making everyone around him feel better about themselves and feel like an important part of whatever group you were with. Working next to Andrew was great because we could joke around and throw the ball around the office and being the same age, we could talk about things we had in common. Sterg was always up for hanging out after work and at night. I will always cherish those experiences and the great and funny stories that we shared. I have never met someone like him who made such an amazing impression on me in such a short time. He touched everyone he knew and everyone he knew could take something from him to make themselves better. I admired and respected him so much. I miss him greatly and he will be missed always by everyone that knew him.
I met Andrew when he worked in my office as an intern during his senior year at GW. Everyone who had the opportunity to get to know him while he was here thought the world of him. He was a hard worker and a highly intelligent person. But what I remember most of all was that smile! He was always smiling and it really was a joy to be around him. Andrew really cherished life and he always talked about his family and friends…he really loved all of you. I remember how excited he was to get back to the city and start his job at Cantor. I know he would have gone very, very far in his life, both personally and professionally. I am so grateful to have known him, even for such a short time. Andrew and his family are in my thoughts and prayers.
I could write forever about the unique and wonderful qualities of Sterg, one of the finest young men that I ever have met. My sorrow over his absence shall never escape my consciousness.
Perhaps the only tribute that I can offer which would serve adequately to honor Sterg is that everyone with a young son should wish and pray that their child will grow up to be just like Andrew.
Sterg,
Wherever you are my friend I know that you are being taken care of. For you were such a genuine person. Honest and unwaivering. You lived your life in a way that made those around you smile and enjoy those moments so much. I’ll never forget our almost daily conversations. Your unique voice laughing on the other end of the phone. Your daily quests always a joy to listen to. I miss your spirit and I know one day I will meet you again.
God Bless you Sterg….God bless you my dear friend.
George
Andrew,
Remember how many times I called you Kevin and you never corrected me. You would answer my question or say hi like that was your name, smiling the entire time. And then the light bulb would go on and I’d realize I did it again. I wish you were here. It was a pleasure to meet and work with you. You are greatly missed and the world is a worse place without you.
Tracy
Co-worker
I met Andrew through my co-worker Sandra Campbell. We were part of the support team for various applications and whenever he had a problem he would come to us first. His smile was wonderful…that was the first thing you saw when he entered our cube! He was a funny, bright young man and I miss him (and all my other friends) dearly. I, as a survivor will never be the same without being able to see the “smiles” of my friends at Cantor/Espeed. You are greatly missed my friend…God’s blessings always.
YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN
You are not forgotten, loved one
Nor will you ever be,
As long as life and memory last
We will remember thee.
We miss you now, our hearts are sore
As time goes by we’ll miss you more.
Your loving smile, your gentle face,
No one can fill your vacant place.
HEAVENLY GARDEN
Your gentle touch,
Your gender care.
A smile as bright as sunshine
A heart of no compare.
A spirit that will glow forever,
In the memories that we share.
Andrew you are forever in our hearts
Andrew, at the service on the 11th this year, I didn’t cry until I heard your name. So many names had been read before yours. I shook my head in disbelief as our friends names were read one by one and by the time I heard yours, I couldn’t take it anymore. Andrew, I’m sorry you died and I didn’t. We were just kids, just kids! There is this kid here who calls me “Mon”, but unlike I told you, I haven’t told him to stop because each time it reminds me of you. I guess it’s your way of saying hello and torturing me at the same time!
Much love,
Mon
Dear Andrew,
On March 7, 2004 it will be your 26th birthday. We will never forget you, we loved you living and we continue to love you. I think of you every day, I still can’t believe this really happened to you. You will continue to be a part of everything I do for the rest of my days. MOM
Andrew, Like falling leaves the years slip by, but love and memories of you remain.
Someday the joy we had with you will be renewed again, beyond the veil for all eternity.
Till then we will always recall with lonely empty hearts and tears that never fail to fall.
6/3/2005
I knew Andy in high school and even though I’m three years older than him, we were in the same art class. We had many friends in common, mostly because I was a fan (one of, maybe, six) of the H.S. lacrosse team. His reputation as a lacrosse player was so great that even when he was in eighth grade, we were all looking forward to him graduating to high school and joining the team. (“Little Sterg”, I believe is how we referred to him before he got to high school. “Sterg” was his older brother Nick, also a fine lacrosse player, but soon Andy became just Sterg.)
When he got there, I was expecting to meet an exceptional athlete who knows how good he is and would carrying his chin above you. Within an instant of meeting him, any those prejudices were wiped away. He was very mature for his age and made it easy for you to consider him your friend.
At that age, there can be significant differences between 9th graders and 11th graders, but with Andy it made no difference. He just hung around with us, went out for lunch and fit in.
Out of all of the victims of September 11, I somehow feel his loss so powerfully that it surprises me. My dad died on September 11 and I grieve as deeply for him as I ever will in my whole life, but I wasn’t expecting to feel this way for Andy as well. Maybe it’s because we’re roughly the same age, from the same town and maybe following a similar path though our careers are different. Perhaps it’s a kinship.
His youth, the brightness of his smile and demeanor, his incredible talent and the warmth of his spirit just make it all so hard to fathom. I think about the Stergiopoulos family often and their son’s grave is in the same cemetery as my dad’s and another young man from our town who died that day, Jon Ielpi.
Since 9/11, I’ve never met his family, except for their older brother George, who used to live across the street from my friends, the Biddles, and came over one night. Though I’ve heard that the Stergs moved from Great Neck, hopefully, we’ll meet each other someday, either at the cemetery or at the future memorial or whenever. Until then, know that I think about Sterg often and miss him dearly.
Isn’t it strange how life brings us, with its ebbs and flows, into contact with all ages and likes of people? Some, like flotsam, bump into us and go right on past, barely recognized. Others, like Andrew, leave an indelible mark, one that continues to inspire admiration and pride for our younger generation.
I knew Andrew as a Best Friend of my son, Clay, at GWU and he always grilled me about my job as an investment portfolio manager at a regional bank. He was a student of the “school” of the WSJ, so his questions were insightful and so well thought. Why, as sophomores, Andrew and Clay started a new club lacrosse team at GW, and in their senior year it won the National Championship in Lacrosse for Club Leagues! This was Andrew’s level of performance in everything he did.
That he was working as a young hire for a terrific firm on Wall Street was pure joy, I know, for him. That he died while working for that firm was a passage that Andrew, I believe, would have seen as regrettably a propos, given his love of finance.
In memory of Andrew, let us not forget a single life, let us cherish their indelible marks on us, and let us pledge that their values be celebrated and perpetuated.
09/11/2008
A picture is worth a thousand words. Andrew’s portrait, his infinite gaze peering back at you, emanates relentless strength of character and memories of his unique talent for connecting to people in a way that I’ve seldom experienced in my lifetime. Most importantly it evokes feelings of hope and assurance that his presence can still be felt.
My very first encounter with Sterge was through a summer lacrosse camp on Long Island in 1990. I was preparing to enter 8th grade at Friends Academy and I believe Andrew was set to start 7th grade that fall (in Great Neck). On the first day we ran drills I played long-stick defense and had to D-up against Sterge who played attack. We became friends and teammates, albeit briefly, after that day. Not only was he friendly and funny also very skilled. He stood out as being a very formidable opponent with a lacrosse cradle that I always remember because of its unique style and great form.
As the years passed we only saw each other once or twice in high school through a random party in Great Neck. It wasn’t until he transferred to GWU in 1998 that we crossed paths again. I began visiting my brother Clay for summers down in D.C. and sure enough I was exposed to the aura of Andrew. It was at that point how clearly you could see that his ability to connect with people had grown even stronger. He was close with my brother and all GWU friends we spent time with.
A cherished memory from my final time with Andrew was his intentional mispronunciation of my first name. Whenever he saw me he would always refer to me as “Lance”, just to get under my skin, and it just stuck. From then on we would both laugh when he’d call me that in any social setting. I still laugh to this day when I recall those memories.
Together on the morning of 9/11, my brother and I experienced from a distance in Washington and on television the reprehensible destruction that took many people’s lives, including Andrew’s. I was definitely honored to help create the GWU Lacrosse team’s poster memorial tribute to Sterge after 9/11. I am also honored again today to be posting within this tribute.
I know Andrew will be sorely missed yet absolutely never forgotten. This shrine is a testament to that.
A picture is worth a thousand words…
We thought of you with love today, but that is nothing new. We thought about you yesterday, and the day before that too. We think of you in silence, and often speak your name. All we have now are memories, and your pictures in a frame. In life we loved you dearly, in death we love you still. In our hearts you hold a special place, no one can ever fill. It broke our hearts to lose you, but you did not go alone. For a part of us went with you the day God called you home. RIP
It is 20 years since we lost Andrew, and yet the memories we have of Andrew, his charisma, his huge heart, his big smile, are all vivid and indelible. If only he knew the impact he had on the people whose lives he touched. We are all better for having had him in our lives. Though the years may pass, his legacy lives on and reminds us all to dream big, live large and love more, just as he always did. We miss you Andrew every day, every hour, every minute. Till me meet again. Love always, Mom, Dad, George, Kathleen & Nick