JONATHAN CONNORS: A 'Tip Top'
Life
His license plate was "Tip Top," which was also one of
his nicknames and his reflexive response to "How ya
doing?" His other nickname -- having at least one is
practically a prerequisite on Wall Street -- was "J.C.,"
short for Jonathan Connors, a 55-year-old senior vice
president of Cantor Fitzgerald who loved to make money,
wear Armani, dance the Lindy, dine at Nobu and, whenever
possible, be surrounded by strong, independent, beautiful
women.
His wife, Susan Connors, said he greeted her not with
a peck but with a full-blown kiss. He liked to hold her
hand tightly. When she was diagnosed with Parkinson's
disease, the two dug in together to fight off the
effects. "Whatever he did," she said, "it turned to gold,
never silver."
Soon after the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, Mr.
Connors constructed a diorama of his brush with
terrorism. In a red- framed box, he displayed mementos of
that day -- the soot-covered shirt and tie he wore, the
cashmere scarf he used as a mask, his train ticket, the
next day's front page. He mounted the box on a wall in
his house. It was, his wife said, an act of catharsis,
remembrance and defiance all at once.
Mrs. Connors recently took it down. "I couldn't stand
to look at it," she said.
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