9/11: Memories from One of our Own
Posted on September 11, 2026
Craig J. Holston, Executive Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager at Florida Trust Wealth Management, shares his personal memories of September 11, 2001.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks on The World Trade Center Towers and The Pentagon. Craig J. Holston, executive vice president and senior portfolio manager at Florida Trust Wealth Management was on Wall Street on 9/11. He reflects on his personal experience of the day, and how like all of us, his life was changed forever.
In 2001, I was working as an equities trader for a large Wall Street firm on the New York Stock Exchange. Like every other workday, I began my commute on September 11th with a ride on a New Jersey Transit train to the World Trade Center. This train would arrive at the massive underground World Trade Center concourse filled with shops and casual restaurants. On this particular day, I decided to make a quick stop at an ATM machine and then exited the towers to make the 15-minute walk to the NYSE trading floor. The timestamp on my ATM receipt reads 7:50 am.
As I stepped onto Liberty Street, I remember looking up at the sky and thinking how completely clear and blue it was. I thought wow, this would be a great day to go golfing! When I arrived at my post on the floor of the exchange to begin preparing for the day, I noticed some traders gathered around one of the many TVs scattered across the floor tuned into CNBC. I walked closer and saw that a plane had crashed into one of the towers. At this point those gathered were very calm as we all thought that perhaps a small plane had accidentally crashed into the building.
The crowd of traders gathered around the TV grew as more time went on. Other traders nearby attempted to contact customers who worked in the Trade Center, but phone lines were inoperable in many cases. Some were saying the trading day might be delayed. At 9:03 am we heard a large boom followed by the live video of the second plane hitting the South Tower. It was clear that we were now under attack.
Fearful that the New York Stock Exchange might be the next target, we all hurried out on to the streets surrounding the building. The scene outside was complete chaos, with panicked office workers running in all directions. Burning paper and debris from the towers was snowing down on us, despite the towers being nearly one half mile distance from the Exchange. At this point, I had no idea what to do and where to go so I just started walking toward midtown Manhattan and hoping that trains from Penn Station would be operational.
I eventually reached John Street where for the first time I had an unobstructed view of the burning towers from a safe distance. I stood there, and in a few minutes, the unthinkable occurred: the South Tower collapsed, followed soon after by the North Tower.
The New York Stock Exchange reopened on September 17th and for weeks we learned of those members of the investment community that did not survive that day. The town of Middletown, New Jersey was hardest hit outside of New York City, with 37 people killed.
Six people in my own town of Cranford, New Jersey died that day, including a neighbor who lived just a few houses from mine. Many dignitaries and politicians visited the NYSE after 9/11, but the biggest cheers were given to the fire fighters and construction workers that were actively searching for victims and cleaning up the site.
The events of 9/11 caused me to rethink what’s really important in life. As the new parents of a beautiful daughter, my wife Patty and I began to explore other opportunities. It took a few years, but the result was a new career in the winter of 2005 at a small but promising Trust Company on a beautiful island on the west coast of Florida and we never looked back!
Craig Holston
Executive Vice President | Senior Portfolio Manager
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