Local man's brother runs away from twin towers

As Kevin Greaser watched the events of Sept. 11, 2001, unfold on his television set, his little brother was running away from the fiery remnants of what was the World Trade Center.

Greaser's brother Eric Greaser, a Wall Street analyst working for Moody's, had been living in New York for about three years. His office was in a building adjacent to the World Trade Center's twin towers.

"I remember watching the news as I was getting dressed to go to the office when the planes hit the towers. I quickly drove to the bank trying the whole way to call my brother on his cell with no success," said Greaser who is Community Bank President at Alliance Bank in Cape Girardeau.

When he arrived at the office, he turned on television watch the news reports as they came in with many other bank employees gathered around.

"We were all shocked and speechless as we witnessed the collapse of one of the towers," Greaser said. "I had an appointment outside the bank and as I was driving to it, I called my brother again this time with success."

Kevin and Eric Greaser are two of eight Greaser children who grew up in Cape Girardeau. Kevin Greaser is the second oldest and Eric Greaser the second youngest.

Kevin Greaser was relieved to hear his brother pick up the phone, but horrified at what he said next.

"He was distraught as he was running away from the towers. He described seeing people jumping from the buildings to avoid being burned alive in the towers only to plunge to their deaths."

Their phones were soon disconnected as they were talking and Eric Greaser continued to run away. Throughout the afternoon, Kevin Greaser tried multiple times, unsuccessfully, to reach his little brother. The phone systems in New York were down.

"Finally, at about 3:30 p.m. I was able to get him again. His company obviously told all employees to go home and await further instructions. Everyone in the city thought perhaps there would be more attacks everyone was fearful beyond words about what might yet be happening," Kevin Greaser said.

On that day, he was thinking about his brother, not how the day's events would impact his bank. Those thoughts would come later.

"There was a great deal of uncertainty in the economy for some weeks or months but the U.S. economy proved it's resilience in relatively short period of time," Greaser said.

All businesses were forced to reconsider security measures to protect their employees as well as their customers, Greaser said.

The Patriot Act, passed in response to the events of Sept. 11, reduced restrictions on law enforcement agencies' allowing them to more easily to search telephone, email, medical, financial and other records.

It also required banks to obtain certain information on their customers.

"The direct result is an increase in information we gather as well as observe about the customers we serve," Greaser said. "In reality, the Act does help us identify risks and indeed does help to maintain the integrity of the banking system."

mmiller@semissourian.com

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