Eugene J. Daly

I started at the PA in August, 1970 after working a year-and-a-half at Grumman on he APOLLO project. I was hired, along with two other Grumman employees – Joe Jackson and Ken Karwan.

I remember working in the Engineering Department at 111 Eighth Avenue on the 11th Floor. I worked mainly on JFK and LGA projects, but the rewarding part was the people and characters I worked with. The bosses were Jim Irwin, Bill McCann, and Harry Ryan, who knew how to have fun and produce work a the same time (a hard thing to do). My group included a bunch of characters – Joe Bart, Dan Monaco and the infamous Charlie Johannis! A great bunch of guys.
The building itself was weird:
- A helicopter pad on the roof
- The cattle-car freight elevator we all took at 4:00 PM
- The guy walking around selling magazines
- Larry the tie guy

We moved to the WTC and I worked in Planning for the rest of my career. We accomplished a lot during that time, making the WTC a tourist destination. We powered the stage on the Plaza, the ice rink on the Plaza (not a good idea), and the chiller plants on Liberty and Vesey street after the 1993 bombing. We did numerous projects to keep our tenants happy.

The PA had various after-work activities like picnics, the bowling league, and softball league. This was a great idea, bringing employees together in a non-work-related environment (not to mention championships).

All I all, the PA was good to me and I enjoyed being a little part of its success through to my retirement in December, 2000.