Neil J. Cudmore: Forming
Roots
As
a boy, Neil J. Cudmore discovered a hobby that became his
lifelong passion. At 8 or 9, he regularly disappeared for
hours to the river by his childhood home near Essex,
England, to fish. As he grew into an outgoing man, his
fishing became an oddly solitary activity for someone who
thrived in the company of others.
But it gave Mr. Cudmore, 39, a sales director with the
Risk Waters Group, a way to balance an active social life
with a gentle sensitivity that helped his friends through
their sorrows and joys -- whether making daily calls to a
friend going through a painful breakup or giving a
first-time father emotional support.
"It was not just that he made a lot of friends, but
that he retained them," said Mr. Cudmore's father, James
Cudmore. He recalled that at a gathering of his son's
friends at a pub near a home he had in Dorset, England,
friends from almost every phase of his life and from
three continents gathered to share memories of him.
On one of those continents -- in Hong Kong, to be
exact -- Neil Cudmore met Dinah Webster, an advertising
manager at Risk Waters, who became his fiancée.
They bought a house in Port Washington, N.Y., in July
2001 and planned to adopt a child. According to their
friend William Rhode, they were putting down roots and
finally settling down. "Neil was applying what he wanted
for his life to his life," Mr. Rhode said. "He and Dinah
really knew how to live passionately, especially in their
love for each other."
Ms. Webster and Mr. Cudmore were at a Risk Waters
meeting at Windows on the World on Sept. 11.
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