Chad Creevy was 22 years old, a recent Alma College graduate about to start a career in banking, when he sat down for a Morgan Stanley conference on the 61st floor of the World Trade Center's South Tower on the morning of September 11, 2001. Within minutes, particles, ash, soot and the smell of jet fuel drifted through the building. He would spend the next 40 minutes making his way down a stairwell, and he says he still thinks about that morning every single day.
Creevy, a Fennville, Michigan native, told WATN-TV that people in the South Tower began evacuating after the initial crash into the North Tower next door, even before their own building was struck. He had reached the 44th floor when United Airlines Flight 175 slammed into the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. Creevy said the building swayed and pushed people as the impact hit, and in that moment, he said he felt the comfort of God settle over him amid the chaos.
He focused on calmly exiting through the stairwell rather than panicking, eventually making it out of the building and taking refuge in a furniture store in SoHo. The South Tower collapsed shortly before or during the time he sheltered there, according to the WATN-TV report by reporter Nick Nelson. Creevy reached a relative's house in upstate New York that evening, and his wife, Dana, learned that day that he was alive.
A Frantic Drive East, A Daughter Left in Family's Care
Back in West Michigan, Dana Creevy traveled to New York with family to bring Chad home, while their one-year-old daughter was cared for by a family member during the trip. Dana later supported Chad through what became a difficult recovery — he has described experiencing survivor's guilt, odd dreams and nightmares in the months and years that followed the attack. He said family and prayer helped him heal over time, and that even when friends, jobs or money fall away, a person still has something left to hold onto.
Creevy's survival was part of a much larger story of corporate preparedness. Morgan Stanley was the largest tenant in the South Tower, and the firm lost 13 employees on 9/11 after security director Rick Rescorla disregarded initial instructions to shelter in place and instead ordered an immediate evacuation of nearly 2,700 personnel, according to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. Creevy's own training cohort reflected that scale of survival: the Morgan Stanley financial adviser group on the 61st floor numbered roughly 275 to 285 trainees on their second day of orientation, and according to Occidental College, every one of them made it out before the tower fell.
A 16-Minute Window That Saved Thousands
Federal research helps explain how so many people below the impact zone escaped. NIST structural and evacuation studies found that roughly 75% of upper-floor occupants in the South Tower began evacuating during the 16-minute window between the North Tower strike at 8:46 a.m. and the South Tower strike at 9:03 a.m., according to Fuji Technology Press. That head start let thousands descend below the danger zone before the South Tower collapsed 56 minutes later, at 9:59 a.m.
According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a bomb exploded in a subterranean garage below the World Trade Center plaza on February 26, 1993, shortly after noon. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lessons learned from the 1993 WTC bombing resulted in extensive fire safety improvements, including improved signage and better lighting. According to NYC Business and the New York City Fire Department, the current NYC Fire Code identifies the buildings and occupancies required to maintain a Fire Safety and Evacuation Plan. The New York City Fire Department adopted rule 3 RCNY §401-07 to establish standards, requirements and procedures for the conduct of fire drills, according to the department’s rule notice.
In the years since, Creevy has continued his career in finance, building a 24-year run across West Michigan institutions. He now serves as Senior Vice President and Client Portfolio Manager at Wintrust Private Client, having earned an MBA from Cornerstone University and completed Wharton's Stonier Graduate School of Banking program in 2024.
School Board Seat and a November Re-Election Bid
Creevy is also a member of the Zeeland Public Schools Board of Education, a role he has held since first being elected in 2020. He now serves as board secretary and has filed for re-election to a second six-year term on the November 2026 general election ballot in Ottawa County, according to Detroit Legal News. He and Dana say that, 25 years on, the events of that day rarely come up with their family, which has grown since 2001. Still, Creevy speaks about his survival story to classes and gatherings, hoping it helps people facing their own challenges.
His account arrives as the 25th anniversary of the attacks has renewed attention on the long health toll they left behind. Federal data from the World Trade Center Health Program showed enrollment surpassing 150,000 responders and survivors by early 2026, with more than 52,000 enrollees certified for at least one 9/11-related cancer diagnosis tied to toxic dust exposure, per The Chief. In February 2026, federal legislation updated the program's funding formula, adding more than $600 million to avert a projected 2027 fiscal shortfall and keep medical coverage intact for those enrolled.
The toll has been especially stark among first responders. Reports published ahead of the anniversary indicate that more than 340 FDNY firefighters and EMS personnel have died from toxic exposure illnesses contracted at Ground Zero, a number that matches and now exceeds the 343 FDNY members killed on the day of the attacks, as Hoodline previously reported. Nationwide, memorial stair climbs have also become part of the anniversary conversation.
For Creevy, the anniversary remains a private reckoning as much as a public one. He has said he thinks about September 11, 2001 every day, even as his life since has been built in the quiet rhythms of West Michigan finance and small-town school governance, far from the stairwell where he once focused simply on getting out alive.
