Rachel Uchitel Marks 25 Years Since Fiancé Andy O'Grady Died on 9/11: "The Honor of My Life"

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, Rachel Uchitel is making sure the world remembers her fiancé, Andy O’Grady. O’Grady was a managing director at Sandler O’Neill, working on the 104th floor of Tower 2. Uchitel, then a producer at Bloomberg, was on the phone with him as the attacks unfolded, covering the story live while her own heart was breaking. She watched his building fall, and her newsroom fell silent.

In the days that followed, Uchitel searched hospitals and Ground Zero for any word of him. A photo of her holding his missing person flyer ran in newspapers around the world, and she says that image helped ensure more people knew his name. The couple met in 1998 and got engaged in August 2001. Andy was just 32 years old.

This week, Uchitel shared a video and tribute on Instagram, writing,“It was the honor of my life to have been loved by James Andrew O’Grady.”Her words remind us that behind every statistic from that day is a real person, a real family, and a love story that deserves to be told. How do you keep the memory of someone you’ve lost alive?