Dedication. Friendliness. Ambition.

Patrick Dwyer was the embodiment of these characteristics and many more to his close friends and family.

"He was truly devoted to his family," JoAnn Dwyer said about her late husband. "He really wanted us to have it all."

Dwyer, a 1986 graduate, commuted two hours to Manhattan from his Nissequogue, N.Y., home every day, where he was a partner at Cantor Fitzgerald.

He was at work on the 105th floor of Tower 1 in the World Trade Center when the first hijacked airplane hit it on Sept. 11, 2001.

Dwyer

JoAnn Dwyer said her husband's long hours at work made the time that she and their two children, Sarah, 4 and Brendan, 6, spent with him even more valuable.

"When Friday came we were all so excited," she said. "We were inseparable on weekends."

Trey Bauer said Dwyer, his long-time friend, always put his family first.

"Our firm [Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.] tried to hire him," Bauer said. "But he didn't want to be away from JoAnn and the kids, so he turned the job down."

After his family, Bauer said Dwyer's next priority was a toss-up between work and Penn State.

"He loved Penn State. He lived and breathed for Penn State," Bauer said.

Dwyer originally came to the university on a lacrosse scholarship, and he was later a walk-on kicker for the football team.

Phil Marber, Dwyer's business partner for more than a decade, said Dwyer was proud of going to Penn State and proud of the football team.

"He was supposed to take Brendan to his first [Penn State football] game this year," Marber said.

Brendan will attend the Iowa game on Sept. 28, JoAnn Dwyer said.

She said Brendan takes after his father in more than just his support of Penn State football.

"Patrick was the most driven man you could ever possibly meet. He had to be the best at everything," JoAnn Dwyer said. "Brendan is exactly the same way."

Marber said Dwyer was one of the best "readers of the tickertape" he had ever met, but his intensity at work never compromised his friendliness.

"Pat had a great personality," Marber said. "I don't know anybody who didn't like Pat."

Bauer met Dwyer at a party at Penn State, and he said they became friends that night.

"When you knew him and met him, you liked him," Bauer said. "You always had a good time in his presence."

Marber said enjoying life was one of the most important things to Dwyer.

"Pat would always say, 'We're here for a good time, not a long time,' " Marber said.