Twenty-five years after John Rodak died when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the World Trade Center's South Tower, his daughters are marking the anniversary the way they have for years — by writing him letters. The Rodak family of Gloucester County, New Jersey, has spent a quarter century turning an unimaginable loss into a story they hope proves there is hope on the other side of grief.
Rodak was a 39-year-old who worked at a small investment firm. He had lived in Sewell, New Jersey, with his wife Joyce and their two daughters. The 104th floor of the South Tower was where he worked, and United Airlines Flight 175 struck the tower at 9:03 a.m. on September 11, 2001, according to CBS News. As CBS News Philadelphia reported in a story by Jan Carabeo, the Rodak sisters have continued writing letters to their father in the twenty-five years since, reflecting on lives built in his absence — grieving, but also growing.
The family's workplace loss was staggering by any measure. The Rodak daughters grew up in the aftermath of their father's death.
A Birth That Echoed a Tragedy
The family's story carries a striking coincidence tied to the number 9/03. On September 11, 2023, Joyce Rodak's granddaughter Angelina was born weighing 9 pounds, 3 ounces — matching 9:03 a.m., the exact moment the plane struck the tower where John Rodak was killed. The family has come to view the timing and birth weight as a reminder of his enduring presence in their lives.
The Rodaks' loss is part of a far larger generational toll. September 11 left an estimated 3,051 children under 18 without a parent, including 105 children born after their fathers died in the attacks, according to The Guardian. Nonprofits such as Tuesday's Children were founded shortly after the attacks to support that generation over the decades since.
Remembered at Home in Gloucester County
Closer to home, John Rodak is one of three Gloucester County residents lost that day — alongside Nicholas Brandemarti of West Deptford and Perry Thompson of Monroe Township, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. In Mantua Township, local officials and residents built a park memorial incorporating salvaged World Trade Center steel, where neighbors gather to ring a commemorative bell at the exact minute the first plane struck — part of a ceremony that tolls for each crash site in New York, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania.
Empty Sky at Liberty State Park in Jersey City honors 749 people who lived in or had ties to New Jersey and died at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The memorial consists of twin 30-foot steel walls bearing their names.
Empathy Forged From Loss
The family's grief has, at times, extended outward. Joyce Rodak's experience was part of the family's story after 9/11. Her husband had died, leaving her and their daughters to face life without him.
Twenty-five years on, September 11, 2001 remains, in the words of the CBS report, one of the darkest days in U.S. history — but for the Rodak family of Gloucester County, the letters they keep writing to their father are also an attempt to show that hope can follow even the most unimaginable loss.
