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Reflecting on 9/11 at UNH
Exhibit on display at Dimond Library as part of National Day of Service and Remembrance event
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
A stone bench created to honor the life of Robert LeBlanc, who died during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, sits near Murkland Hall.
On the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Â鶹app community pauses to remember the members of the UNH family who were lost that day, including four alumni — one of whom was also a longtime faculty member.
Judd Cavalier ’98, Jennifer Fialko ’94, Robert G. LeBlanc ’59 and Timothy C. Stout ’83 all lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001. Cavalier, Fialko and Stout were all in one of the two towers at the World Trade Center, while LeBlanc, who was a geography professor at UNH for 36 years, was aboard United Airlines Flight 175.
In addition, this year UNH is home to a 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance event, thanks to a grant from AmeriCorps. The event features a blood drive, a food drive, and a Kindness Card station for local firefighters and first responders, led by UNH’s Student Nursing Organization (SRO). UNH is one of 23 grantees chosen for the 2025 “9/11 Day Campus Grants Program,” aimed at teaching young people about 9/11 through the lens of service, according to a press release from AmeriCorps.
As part of UNH’s involvement there will also be a “UNH Remembers September 11, 2001” exhibit on display on the main floor of Dimond Library through Sept. 30. The exhibit features photographs from the library’s special collections and archives, including images from a candlelight vigil held on campus after 9/11 and a blood drive that took place a week after the attacks.
It also features the 9/11 Quilt of Remembrance, created by UNH students, staff, and faculty in the aftermath of the tragedy. Though the quilt is too delicate for physical display, it is presented through a multimedia slideshow that allows visitors to read messages inscribed on the quilt.
The library exhibit will also include an interactive kindness wall, where visitors can pledge acts of kindness in honor of 9/11 that will ultimately be featured together on a large wall. A food donation box will be placed at the exhibit, as well, collecting items for Cat's Cupboard, the on-campus food pantry serving UNH students.
In observance of the 20th anniversary of the attacks four years ago, the T-Hall bells were set to chime at 8:46 a.m. in recognition of the time the first tower was struck by a plane in New York city. At the football game that evening, members of the UNH Army ROTC, UNH Police Department, and Durham and McGregor EMS joined the UNH marching band during the National Anthem and America the Beautiful, as well as for a moment of silence in remembrance of 9/11.
The Durham Fire Department also provided a ladder truck that displayed a large American Flag alongside the field throughout the game.
The four alumni who died during the attacks were honored in remembrances written by their colleagues and fellow alumni inĚý.
Cavalier was remembered by Jonathan Sloan ’97, a fellow member of the Sigma Beta fraternity, for the meals he prepared as the house chef, described by Sloan as “some of the finest meals ever to be served to the brethren of Sigma Beta.” Cavalier moved to New York City in 1998 for a position with Sandler O’Neill and Partners. He was working in the firm’s bond-research office on the 104th floor of Two World Trade Center when the plane struck the building on Sept. 11, 2001
Fialko’s mother, Evelyn, says that Fialko used to joke with her family that she was connected to New Hampshire before she was even born, as Evelyn was pregnant with her during the first summer the family spent on Lake Winnipesaukee – the first of what became an annual sojourn leading up to Fialko’s time at UNH. She was working in her office at Aon, an insurance company at Two World Trade Center, on Sept. 11, 2001.
LeBlanc earned his undergraduate degree at UNH and later became a professor of geography in 1963, serving the university until his retirement in 1999. LeBlanc was recalled by fellow professor emeritus of geography William Wallace – who was LeBlanc’s professor first – as “generous to a fault” with a “zest for life and adventure.” LeBlanc was aboard United Airlines flight 175, en route to Los Angeles, on Sept. 11, 2001.
Stout was a proud member of the UNH crew team, and teammate Fred Puksta ’81 warmly recalled his “frozen-mustache smile and his enthusiasm” as “heartwarming and inspirational” during the team’s long, cold runs during the winter. The crew team later purchased a boat named in Stout’s honor from donations given in his memory. Stout was working at Cantor Fitzgerald on the 103rd floor of One World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
UNH’s 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance event is part of a larger, nationwide initiative launched in 2023, aimed at engaging college students in good deeds and acts of kindness to mark the 9/11 National Day of Service (also known as 9/11 Day), according to a press release from AmeriCorps. Tens of thousands of students on more than 80 campuses nationwide are expected to participate in the annual program, sponsored by 9/11 Day and AmeriCorps.
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