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JASON DeFAZIO: Love Under His Nose

 

Three months ago, Jason DeFazio married the girl who had a crush on him in high school. He was a linebacker on the Curtis High School football team on Staten Island; Michele Moss was a cheerleader, about three years his junior. She was in love with him; he had no idea.

But when they met by happenstance at the Jersey Shore three years ago, he paid attention. He wondered aloud how he had missed her in the first place. No matter. The relationship Ms. Moss had dreamed of as a teenager blossomed under a star-filled sky.

Now he is gone again. Mr. DeFazio, 29, worked as a bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of the north tower. Mrs. DeFazio is heartbroken that they did not have a chance to raise children. She will miss the chutzpah that helped him work his way from the mailroom to the trading floor.

"He was a joy to be around," Mrs. DeFazio said. "He made crazy faces that made everyone laugh. He was the type of person I could bring to meet new friends and he got along with everybody."

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From "Profiles in Grief" of The New York Times