Never Forget: 25 Years Remembering Charles Falkenberg and His Family

I first wrote this post in 2008, the year the Pentagon Memorial opened, and I bring it back to the top of this page every September. For the 25th year I want to tell you more about the people in it.

That morning I was on the road into Maryland, listening to WTOP, and the traffic coming the other way was heavier than anything I'd ever seen. I spent most of the day in a conference room, watching the same footage as everyone else in the country. I didn't know yet that I knew anyone on the plane that hit the Pentagon. ECOlogic's CEO told me the next day.

For one day it was the country's tragedy. After that it had four names.

Charles Falkenberg was 45. He was director of research (CTO) at ECOlogic, where I sat on the board, and he built the systems that got NASA earth-science data into the hands of the scientists who needed it. His wife, Leslie Whittington, was also 45. She was an economist and associate professor of public policy at Georgetown who studied how tax policy affects families. Both of them had graduated from East High School in Denver, and they married there in 1984.

Zoe was eight. Her teacher at University Park Elementary remembered that she was one of the smallest in her class and one of the brightest. She loved to read, especially Harry Potter. Dana had turned three that July. Her parents saw her as a miracle.

They were flying to Los Angeles and then on to Canberra, where Leslie was starting a fellowship at the Australian National University.

Twenty-five years on, what stays with me is how much of that trip was built around coming home. Leslie's fellowship had an end date. Zoe had planned a Beanie Babies party with her friend Katie for when they got back. And Charles spent his last week at the office packing up his things so someone else could use the room, even after his coworkers told him it would wait for him.

Dana would be 28 this year. Zoe would be 33.

Two days ago the Pentagon Memorial became an affiliated area of the National Park System, a partnership to preserve and share the stories of the 184 people killed there. If you're ever in Arlington, go and find Dana's bench. If you can't get there, the memorial has a short biography of each of them online: Charles, Leslie, Zoe, and Dana. Georgetown still holds the Whittington Lecture in Leslie's name every year.

Below is the post as I first wrote it.

Charles was the Director of Research (CTO) for ECOLogic – a small company based in Washington DC where I served on the Board of Directors. Charles was incredibly brilliant and the work he did in data visualization for earth data allowed ECOLogic to grow and expand including spinning off companies (e.g. Datazen) to commercialize the research from Charles and his team.

Charles and his family (Dana Falkenberg (3), Zoe Falkenberg (8) and his wife Leslie) were on the American flight that hit the Pentagon. They were in transit to Australia, where Leslie would be a visiting professor. Charles asked for a leave of absence but instead, the company asked him to continue his research … from Australia. In his last week, he cleaned out his office so that someone else could use it while he was gone. The response from his co-workers was “no” — his office would wait for him when he got back. He still packed it up, just in case someone needed to use it while he was gone.

Here is a video tribute that was put together to memorialize the Falkenberg family 9/11.

With 9/11 upon us and the fact that I'm on the east coast, I made a special trip to the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial. When I came around the corner of the Pentagon and saw the memorial, the impact was profound. Each person who perished has a bench with their name.

The benches are organized by year of birth. As a result, Charles' youngest daughter, Dana Falkenberg, is the first bench you see when you enter the memorial.

Charles Falkenberg – you are missed.

I can't easily explain the emotion I felt when I saw their benches … the memories of that day all came rushing back …

Update: 9/11/2020 — Re-post of the original from 9/11/2008