Meaningful Adjacencies: Richard Barry Ross and Stacey Leigh Sanders

The nearly 3,000 names inscribed on the 9/11 Memorial are arranged in accordance with the victims’ relationships, the companies they worked for and where they were on 9/11. These meaningful adjacencies allow the builders of the memorial “to place the names of those who died that day next to each other in a meaningful way, marking the names of family and friends together, as they had lived and died,” according to 9/11 Memorial designer Michael Arad.

One adjacency on the northwest corner of the North Pool tells the connection between Boston native Richard Barry Ross and his daughter’s best friend, Stacey Leigh Sanders.

Ross, who was founder and CEO of an executive consulting firm, lived in Newtown, Mass., with his wife, Judi. They had raised three children—a son and two daughters. Gregarious and good-natured, Ross was known to break into renditions of Frank Sinatra tunes while inviting his daughters to dance with him. On Sept. 11, 2001, Ross boarded Flight 11 to teach a leadership seminar in California.

Stacey Sanders, Ross’ daughter’s best friend, was a New York native and Yale University graduate. She and her boyfriend, Bryan, had recently shopped for an engagement ring. On 9/11, Sanders was at work at Marsh & McLennan, in an office on the North Tower’s 96th floor—directly in the impact zone of hijacked Flight 11, Richard’s flight.

Marking their connection, their names are listed side by side on the North Pool of the 9/11 Memorial. Explore the names listed on the Memorial or learn more about meaningful adjacencies on the Memorial here.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff