Victims of NYC Ferry Crash Laid to Rest

MIDDLETOWN, N.J. – Frank R. Sullivan was rushing home to pick up his son from football practice. John Healy was looking forward to taking his two boys to the World Series.

The men, who lived in a New Jersey suburb still aching from the loss of 37 residents on Sept. 11, 2001, were mourned themselves Monday as victims of the crash of a Staten Island (search) ferry.

At St. Leo the Great Church in Middletown, N.J., Healy was remembered as a devoted family man, baseball coach and avid Yankees fan. Healy, 44, a father of four, left the office early to take his son to baseball practice.

A Bronx (search) native, Healy had tickets to Game 2 on Sunday and had planned to take sons John Jr. and Brian as a treat for Brian's 10th birthday.

"After he escaped the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, didn't he teach us the value of cherishing every day as a gift from God?" the Rev. Leonard Lang asked during Monday's service.

Healy, a lawyer for Kemper Insurance, survived the terror attack by being late for work, having taken his daughter to school. The Kemper offices were on the 35th and 36th floors of the World Trade Center (search).

Sullivan, 46, had been rushing home to pick up his son from football practice. In the coming weeks, he and wife, Lisa, had planned to celebrate their 20th anniversary in the Bahamas. The couple also lived in Middletown.

"When death comes to a loved one so early in life and so tragically, we find our minds filled with questions: '... How could someone we loved so dearly be taken from us so quickly and so suddenly?"' Monsignor Eugene Rebeck said at Sullivan's funeral at St. Catharine's Church in Holmdel, N.J.

The two were among 10 people killed in Wednesday's crash of the Andrew J. Barberi ferry. An investigation is continuing into why the boat's pilot may have lost consciousness, and where its captain was at the time.

Vincent Ferrante, 26, had recently become engaged and was house-hunting. A Yankees logo on a floral arrangement at his funeral at St. Theresa Church on Staten Island reflected his interest in sports, including NASCAR racing and dirt bikes.

Ferrante, who worked for the family flooring business, boarded the ferry just one boat earlier than his father for the 25-minute journey home.

Elsewhere on Staten Island, at St. Joseph's Church, Pio Canini, 52, was remembered as a skilled carpenter who planned to build his newlywed daughter a dream house in Pennsylvania. His coffin was flanked with flowers arranged in the shape of hearts and the tools of his trade -- a hammer and a saw.

Another funeral on Staten Island was held at St. Clare's Church for Joseph Bagarozza, 35, a clerk for the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Relatives and friends described him as a doting father who lived for his 10-year-old daughter, Kristen.

In upstate Syracuse, N.Y., Darius M. Marshall, a United Nations security guard whose assignments included details for President Bush and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, was remembered as a role model for black youth. With a degree in criminal justice, Marshall had hoped to join the U.S. Secret Service.

Recently married, the 25-year-old Marshall grew up in Syracuse and attended Wagner College on Staten Island on a football scholarship.

"He was a born protector," the Rev. Felicia Thomas told about 500 mourners at University United Methodist Church. "He wanted to make the world a safer place."