New York lawyer, Frankie Chu Hei-tak, a partner in the New York Fifth Avenue law firm, had a morning appointment with bankers at the World Trade Center at 9:30 a.m., on September 11 but was late to avoid fortunately the terrorist attack. Reports Anna Fenton, for months before the attack, Frankie was disillusioned with the legal world. He dreamed of putting his successful legal career on hold and returning to Hong Kong to help children by teaching them to think for themselves. "Today's learners are tomorrow's leaders," he used to say.
Frankie acquired the rights to a language-teaching computer software called Fast ForWord and headed for Hong Kong in early 2002 to start promoting it to schools. His wife, Karen, and the girls followed him to Hong Kong in June 2002. On March 15 he and Sandra Lam, a colleague from his company Pyramid Learning, flew from Hong Kong to Beijing for a meeting with government officials. They took Air China flight CA112 and infected with the SARS virus..Four days later, Frankie started to feel tired and feverish. After flying back to Hong Kong on March 20, he was admitted to the hospital the following day. For alleged mistake in giving drugs, Francki died on April 16. He was 41. Frankie is survived by his wife, Karen, 41, and two daughters, Petrina, 8, and Ariel, 6,. (Source: Anna Fenton, New York Post, June 23, 2003)