RAMZI DOANY: Ways to Amass
Friends
Ramzi
Doany amassed friends. He amassed them with acts of
kindness, like tutoring a woman with lupus, two children
and no husband, to get her through college, or letting
his college roommate and the roommate's wife live in his
condo for two years so they could save money for a down
payment on a house.
He amassed friends with his sense of humor, which
filled a room and flourished at an early age. As a boy of
9 or 10, young Ramzi dug a hole in the backyard for a
terrible report card and put a stone on top. "He said it
was dead and buried," said his sister, Dina Doany
Azzam.
Mr. Doany was born to Palestinian parents in Amman,
Jordan, and lived for many years in Milwaukee. At 35, he
devoured the novels of Dickens, cooked Thanksgiving
turkeys with great pride (even if they were just a bit
dry) and had just bought a Harley- Davidson motorcycle.
He chose to work as a forensic accountant last March for
Marsh & McLennan, the insurance brokerage company,
because it would bring him to New York, a city he loved.
The job also brought him to the World Trade Center.
It was a funny sort of journey, his sister said.
.