Juliana McCourt

Ron Clifford was working at the World Trade Center towers when a plane carrying his sister, Ruth Clifford McCourt, and 4-year-old niece, Juliana, slammed into one of the towers.

“Tragically, my sister hit the tower building as my brother was on the ground floor. He’s safe now. He’s very traumatized,” John Clifford told the Manchester Guardian.

Adding to this bizarre coincidence, one of McCourt’s friends, Paige Farley-Hackel of Boston, was on the American Airlines flight that slammed into the other tower. They had planned to meet in Los Angeles. McCourt was coming out to see old friends. “Our daughters were going to play together,” said Mimi Torp, McCourt’s best friend in high school. “We of course wanted our daughters to be friends, as we were.”

McCourt, who was born in Ireland, lived in Pacific Palisades with her family and attended Marymount High School while her stepfather worked as a professor at UCLA.

Under her maiden name, Ruth created Clifford Classique, a full service salon and beauty product line based in Boston. She married David McCourt and the family lived in New London, Conn.

Ruth McCourt is survived by her husband, David, and her mother, Paula Scott, and brothers Ron and John.