ADAM P. ARIAS: A Lover and a
Fighter
After
15 lymphoma-related surgeries, Margit Arias never thought
she would live to see as much of the world as her
husband, Adam P. Arias, wanted to show her. So for their
third wedding anniversary on Sept. 5, Mr. Arias, 37,
surprised her with a globe encrusted with semiprecious
stones.
They had married 18 months after the stark diagnosis.
He prodded and cajoled her through treatment. During
chemotherapy week, he did everything around their Staten
Island apartment. But he would deliberately put his cigar
ashtray in the wrong place, to jolt Mrs. Arias, a
neatness fanatic, out of her chemo stupor. When she felt
stronger, Mr. Arias would take her to a movie, on trips
out of town; he even nudged her onto a golf course.
He was determined she would make it. A workaholic, he
rose to a vice presidency at Euro Brokers with only a
high school equivalency diploma.
He was scary-smart --at 7, he knew the names of all
the presidents, their wives and their parties-- but not
intimidatingly so, with a wicked wit and another life as
a bar balladeer, covering songs from Tony Bennett and
Meat Loaf.
On Sept. 11, he was determined that others would make
it, too. He lingered, prodding colleagues to leave. Last
week, Mrs. Arias had her 16th operation. "I didn't want
to," she said. "But Adam fought too hard to keep me
alive."
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