9/11 Memorial, 2012

Photo by Rowan University Libraries staff.

 

Year Installed: 2012
Artist: Patrick Lynch
Materials: Stone planters, flagpoles, Callery pear tree
Dimensions: 50′ x 70′
Location: On the Bunce quad
Latitude & Longitude:
39.7082645985875, -75.1206009442296

The 9/11 memorial on the Rowan campus was created in 2012 by civil engineering student Patrick Lynch. It is a monument in remembrance of the nearly 3,000 people lost in the tragic event. The sculpture’s design shows the buildings targeted on September 11th, with two square planter beds and one pentagon shape. Inside each square planter is a flagpole, one flying the American flag and the other the New Jersey state flag. The memorial is a place of mourning but also of hope, as in the center of the largest planter bed is a Cellary pear tree. After the 9/11 attacks, a Cellary pear tree was found among the rubble and nursed back to health in a Bronx, New York park. It was later named the “Survivor Tree.”

Most important to Patrick Lynch was that this memorial be a place of remembrance. This area in the center of campus is a solemn place where a ceremony is held on the anniversary of the attacks. There was a large turnout for the Rowan community at the memorial on this day, shortly after its construction was completed. The community also came together to see the result of Lynch’s ideas and efforts. He had help from his fellow university students and employees during construction. Also, the memorial was funded by senior class gifts from the classes of 2009 and 2012 and 154 gifts and pledges to the Rowan University Foundation.

On September 11th, 2001, two Rowan alumni died at the World Trade Center. They were Daphne Pouletsos, class of ’76, and Lance Tumulty, class of ’92. Shortly after the attacks in 2002, an oak tree was planted behind Savitz Hall with a remembrance plaque. The Rowan Alumni Association donated the oak tree, and the plaque was donated by Board of Trustees chairman James Gruccio. The 2012 memorial is an extension of this first dedication in remembrance of Ms. Pouletsos and Mr. Tumulty, and all others lost on 9/11.