Listening to him tell his story, one gets the sense that the World Trade Center was more than a mammoth place of business. It was for him a hub of community activity, a meeting place for business associates and friends, as well as his corporate home for 30 years. He works today in borrowed offices in Midtown, trying to piece together business contacts using only a handful of papers, a palm pilot and a cell phone. While he deals with massive personal loss, he perseveres largely through a sense of progress through the association's work. "They blew up the icon," he says, "but not the mission." Here is his story.

GlobeSt.com: Explain the mission of the WTCA.

DiChiara: It's ironic now, but the mission of the World Trade Centers Association is to support the establishment and successful operation of world trade centers as part of an alliance of world trade centers, which enhances global economic development and world peace. So we've always perceived the centers as a place to come and do business under the belief that if you're doing business with someone you're not going to be fighting with them. So the World Trade Center was an instrument of peace. They've blown up the icon. Not the mission. Those towers also represented the financial strength of the United States and the financial strength of the world. You can't destroy that either.