Rear Adm. Richard E. Bennis, 52; Headed Boat Rescue After 9/11

Rear Adm. Richard E. Bennis, 52, who organized the boat lift rescue of half a million people from Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, died Aug. 3 in Fredericksburg, Va., of melanoma.

Bennis was the Coast Guard’s captain of the Port of New York and New Jersey when the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center occurred. He was on his way to Florida to recuperate from surgery when he heard of the disaster and turned back. Boarding a boat in Sandy Hook, N.J., he quickly organized and directed a flotilla of more than 100 tugs, patrol boats and pleasure craft to evacuate victims.

Operating day and night, the boats moved nearly 500,000 people from the area near ground zero to New Jersey. Return trips ferried emergency supplies and crews from across the country. For weeks afterward, Bennis oversaw a strengthening of security unseen in New York Harbor since World War II.

Born in Syracuse, N.Y., Bennis grew up in Rhode Island. He earned a bachelor’s degree in natural resource development from the University of Rhode Island and a master’s in energy and environmental studies from Harvard. During his Coast Guard career, he was captain of the East Coast’s three largest ports -- Charleston, S.C., Hampton Roads, Va., and New York.

Elevated from captain to rear admiral, Bennis retired from the Coast Guard in March 2002 after 30 years of service. He was then named associate undersecretary for maritime and land security in the new Transportation Security Administration.