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| Tom Burnett, RIP |
| 2001-09-15 |
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Thomas Burnett Jr., the California executive who may have helped thwart a plan by hijackers to crash a fourth plane into a landmark, was on board that day because he was in his usual rush to get home to his wife and young children. Those who knew him say he regarded himself as a family man. But the successful executive and athlete was also a proven leader. A former Bloomington, Minn., high school quarterback, Burnett enjoyed hunting and fishing at his family's Wisconsin farm house retreat. He was also an avid reader, interested in history, politics and sports. During Tuesday's hijacking of United Flight 93, Burnett called his wife, Deena, told her about the hijacking and said he and other passengers were "going to do something." Minutes later, Flight 93 crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside, killing all 45 people on board but no one on the ground. Investigators haven't said whether the passengers tried to overpower the hijackers or if that caused the plane to crash far from other possible destinations, such as Washington. The plane's cockpit voice recorder, which should have taped the final 30 minutes of conversation, was recovered Friday and sent to Washington for analysis. Burnett, who lived in San Ramon, was a senior vice president of Thoratec Corp., a medical research and development company. His friend and company president Keith Grossman said Burnett had been scheduled to take a later flight but apparently booked the earlier one at the last minute. "He was going home to be with his family," Grossman said. "I've traveled enough with Tom over the years to know that he was eager to get home to them as soon as he could." Burnett had three children, twins Madison and Halley, both 5, and Anna-Claire, 4. Grossman said Burnett, a University of Minnesota graduate who earned a master's degree at Pepperdine University, was bright, driven, competitive and possessed skills and maturity well beyond his 38 years. "He had high ideals and principles, and he expected a great deal of himself, and of others," Grossman said. "He had a very strong sense of right and wrong, and was solidly rooted in the strength of his own convictions." Those who knew him are counting Burnett - an admirer of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and America's founding fathers - as a patriot for the part he may have played in preventing greater bloodshed. "I would expect Tom to die just as he lived, with honor, principle and dignity," Grossman said. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |