Southeastern MA and RI Victims of the September 11 Attacks

I was a young morning show host on September 11, 2001. On that awful day, I promised myself that as long as I was on the air, I would always try to not only remember the pain of the days and weeks that followed those unspeakable acts but to also re-awaken that pain in my audience.

Actively trying to bring pain to my audience is not something that I make a habit of doing. I just strongly believe that it is important to remember the innocent lives lost, lives that could have produced a second and third generation of hard-working Americans.

Looking at the lives with local ties taken that day underscores the tremendous loss we felt.

Take, for example, the life of David Angell. He was born in West Barrington, Rhode Island. He had quite an unusual career. In addition to working at the Pentagon in his younger days, Angell later wrote for the television sitcoms Cheers and Wings. He was also the creator of the Cheers spinoff Frasier. Angell was only 55 when he died. We'll never know what sitcom we may have missed out on because of his early death.  How many laughs were denied to Americans? How many hugs to his family?

That is just one single death out of the thousands.

READ MORE: 25 Songs Banned From the Radio After 9/11

Each victim left behind adoring families: mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends and spouses. Each victim carried a rich story which was their life. Those stories were all cut short.

I realized that I had never really researched the local people who lost their lives on September 11. I had certainly heard of Dianne Snyder, the flight attendent and tennis enthusiast from Westport, but I needed to find out more about all of the local victims.

When you take on a project with as much gravity as this one, there is always the fear that you'll unintentionally leave someone out. That is certainly not my intention. We researched for this list as thoroughly as we could. If there is a 9/11 victim with local ties that we omitted, please let us know.