A Hero of 9/11: Benjamin “Keefe” Clark

An executive chef for Sodexho and a former U.S. Marine and Gulf War veteran, Benjamin Clark was a well-known presence in the corporate dining room of Fiduciary Trust on the 96th floor of the South Tower, WTC 2, where he prepared hundreds of meals each day for the Fiduciary Trust family of 250 employees. 

The kind of devoted, thoughtful father and husband who loved being in the kitchen because he could be close to his kids; who made them custom meals as a matter of course; and who routinely went out of his way to leave surprise gifts, love notes, or cards for his wife “just because,” Benjamin Clark was “known to all his friends as ‘Keefe.'” A man with a big smile and big heart, “he would,” his wife remembered, “take his last and give it to you.”

On the morning of 9/11, Keefe took his last and gave it to save others. He could have escaped – “he had more than enough time” – but didn’t. Instead, he “urgently called on people to leave their offices” and escape down the stairs.

After helping several hundred people safely flee downstairs, Keefe went back to double check and ensure that no one was left behind. He was last seen with three others helping a wheelchair-bound woman get down the stairs. None of them got out.

The senior vice president of Fiduciary believes Keefe was responsible for the escape of hundreds of his employees. Keefe was survived by his wife Lashawn and five children.

The day of the attacks, Keefe’s eldest son Chaz “watched the tower collapse with his father inside and yet went straight to offer his help” to hospitals and triage efforts. He assisted with food distribution to rescue workers.

One year after the attacks, Keefe’s son Taj and daughter Brittany read names of the fallen at Ground Zero. Brittany read a poem she had written.

I give you this one thought to keep,

I am with you still, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow;

I am the diamond glint on the snow.

I am as sunlight on ripened grain;

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in morning’s hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush

of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not think of me as gone;

I am with you still in each new dawn.

She said, “This poem makes me feel like my daddy is speaking to me.”

Keefe’s son Sean painted a mural in his father’s honor. 

This past May, Keefe’s son Chaz graduated from Morehouse College magna cum laude.  Chaz Clark was not only the first recipient of a United Negro College Fund 9/11 Liberty Scholarship, but the first such recipient to graduate from Morehouse.

After 9/11, the United Negro College Fund had announced that it would provide full scholarships for all of Benjamin Clark’s children. The Sodexho Foundation followed up by donating $150,000 to the UNCF to fund scholarships for financially disadvantaged students at historically black colleges (such as Morehouse) who maintain a 3.0 grade average and demonstrate involvement in programs dedicated to fighting hunger.

Though nothing can compensate for the loss of Benjamin “Keefe” Clark, these scholarships are certainly an appropriate tribute to his legacy.

That legacy, of course, consists of his family; their memories and friends’ memories of his life; and the hundreds of lives he helped save on 9/11.

Keefe was known for his big smile. A friend said, “Wherever Keefe is now, he’s probably making a good meal, and smiling.” Five years after his death, let us smile as we remember and honor this extraordinary human being.

 

See a list of other bloggers’ tributes to 9/11 heroes and victims at the 2,996 Project site.