The Manahawkin Man Who Lost His Life On 9/11

MANAHAWKIN, NJ — Christopher S. Cramer had big dreams. The Manahawkin resident and Jimmy Buffett super fan imagined himself retired on an island in Florida, fishing and drinking beer.

Cramer, 34, was vice president of tax operations at Fiduciary Trust Company International. He worked on the 90th floor of Two World Trade Center when it was attacked.

Cramer lived in "commuter hell," hit obituary says. He drove more than 200 miles a day to the World Trade Center and back. He endured the commute for 11 years, leaving home at 7:10 a.m., and it turned him gray, his fiancée said.

But Cramer had a vision: he would turn 35, take a buyout and retire. Then he'd move to Florida. On Sept. 11, 2001, Cramer's dream was only 317 days away.

"He wanted to get down there before he went totally gray," said his fiancée, Tracy Pereless.

His father, Walter Cramer, was an attorney for NJ Transit in Newark, The Star-Ledger wrote in 2001. Walter Cramer, of Jackson, called his son.

"He said, 'Dad. I've got to get out of here. They're evacuating,'" the elder Cramer told The Star-Ledger. "I said, 'OK, I'll see you later.'" Then a hijacked jetliner hit the South Tower.

Christopher S. Cramer was "lively, fun and the center of attention at parties," his brother Walter H. Cramer told The Star-Ledger. Cramer was one of nearly 3,000 casualties of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, including about 750 from New Jersey.

"He was loved by his parents and three brothers and sister and fiancée," his obituary says. "And if they could, they would apologize to him for forgetting to play Jimmy Buffett at his memorial."

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