Scott Schertzer was a master of many environments. He moved as easily within the dress-casual world of Cantor Fitzgerald's corporate office as he did on the basketball court. He was equally at home in the parking lot at a Phish concert as he was in the rowdy seats at a Dallas Cowboys game.  

What's that? A New Jersey native rooting for the Cowboys?  

"I have been racking my brains for years trying to figure that out," said his father, Paul Schertzer, who still keeps his son's bedroom in Edison exactly as he left it — swathed in Cowboys paraphernalia. "It was a love of his."  

Scott, 28, followed Phish to Vermont, Las Vegas and Florida, and amassed hundreds of cassette tapes of concerts.  

Scott worked in the human resources department at Cantor Fitzgerald, and had a part in the immediate layoffs of a group of workers on Sept. 10, said his sister, Lori Schertzer. Those employees did not return to work the next day.  

At a memorial for victims of his company, Ms. Schertzer said one guest wrote a message above a picture of her brother on the wall: "My hero."  

When Scott Schertzer developed an interest in something he would usually become passionate about it.

He was such an ardent fan of the music group Phish that he traveled across the United States to attend their concerts in cities such as Las Vegas, Chicago and on both coasts, according to his father, Paul.

"He also loved the Dallas Cowboys and used to say he was a true fan in that Giants fans love their team when they are winning, but he loved the Cowboys whether they won or lost. His room is full of Dallas Cowboy paraphernalia," he said.

However, Mr. Schertzer's first loves were his family and friends.

"Scott would do anything for anybody" said his father. "He was deeply involved in family and friends. He was always there and he was a great guy. I know these are all clichés, but they are all true of him," he said.

"I once said to one of his friends that Scott was lucky to have a friend like him and he replied, 'No, I am lucky to have a friend like him,'" the elder Schertzer said.

The 28-year-old Edison resident was in his 104th floor office at Cantor Fitzgerald when a plane hijacked by terrorists slammed into the World Trade Center's North Tower.

As an employee in the firm's Human Resources Department, Mr. Schertzer had a part in the layoffs of 51 people the day before the attack, saving their lives, his father said.

Mr. Schertzer spent Monday night at the house of his sister, Lori, who worked for a bank on the 14th floor of a building attached to the South Tower.

"They went to work together, and she went to her office and he took the elevator up to his office," their father said.

"My daughter called me after the plane hit the building and she was very frantic. She said she saw the first plane crash and frantically tried to reach him by phone, but couldn't reach him," he said.

"They were telling her to go back to her desk, but I told her to get the hell out of there and she did. She survived," Paul Schertzer said.

The graduate of J.P. Stevens High School and Rutgers University is also survived by his mother, Ellen.


Profile by Robert E. Misseck published in THE STAR-LEDGER.