When I drew Kevin’s name for this piece last year, I was immediately thrown into a mixed bag of emotion. My older son is almost Kevin’s same age, and I began to contemplate what his family must still be going through, having lost their son in the horrible events of 9/11. My son spent two three years in Iraq; but at least I was prepared for a loss, should it happen. My heart goes out to the Marlo family, and I say a little prayer for them all, including his former girlfriend and hope she’s been able to go on with her life.

Kevin D. Marlo was just 28 years old when he died in the World Trade Center in New York on 9/11. He was a resident of Manhattan, grew up in West Chester and graduated from Henderson High School–a very handsome single young man, with a bright future ahead of him.

Although he was an Equity trader for the investment bank Sandler O’Neill, and worked on the 104th floor, of the South Tower, he was also an aspiring actor and model.

Just before 9/11, on 9/5, he came back from a shoot of Elimidate Deluxe. That show was reminiscent of the old Dating Game and his part was filmed at a Colorado dude ranch. The show gives a male or female contestant a choice of four potential dates, all the while trotting the globe. It was his big break: Playing the object of desire for four young women on reality TV.

When he returned Sept. 5 from the shoot at a Colorado dude ranch, he had been sworn to secrecy and wouldn’t name his pick. But he told his father, Dennis, that when he watched the episode, “you’ll just know by me” which woman would be the one.

With Kevin now a victim of the Sept. 11 attacks, his father Dennis Marlo will not be seeing his son on television. The WB network that filmed it decided not to show his episode of Elimidate Deluxe but instead gave a tape of this show to his family.

“They were trying to set up something where they take the city slicker . . . out to a dude ranch,” Dennis Marlo said.

Growing up in West Chester, Kevin hardly was a city boy, but he quickly became one during internships with Sandler O’Neill, which were followed by a full-time position. He wasn’t sure he wanted to spend his career in business, but he knew he wanted to live in New York - and the closer to the footlights, the better.

Kevin had not been drawn to the stage in high school or college. But once in New York, his father said, “he started to do some modeling. He did some shoots. . . . He was taking voice lessons and diction lessons.”

He made a cameo appearance as an audience member of The Tonight Show With Jay Leno - “He was on for quite a few minutes there,” Dennis Marlo said - and he got a small role in a Woody Allen movie. Which one, his father could not recall. The part of a young guy in a bar was small enough that Kevin had to point himself out to family members - but big enough to encourage him to keep chasing the big break.

So, even though his girlfriend wasn’t enthusiastic about Elimidate Deluxe, he went after it.

“He did all the things he wanted to,” his father said. “He didn’t hold back.”

When he was a teenager, Kevin D. Marlo and some of his friends tried to remove a television set from a Kmart in Pennsylvania without paying for it. That was a mistake, he discovered when the police and his mother got involved. “I told the officer to fine him the maximum so he would learn a lesson,” said his mother, Barbara Meyer. And it seemed to work; he never tried to take another TV.

But he remained attracted to the small screen, and the big one. Even as an associate director of equity sales and trading at Sandler O’Neill, which he joined straight out of the University of Pittsburgh, Mr. Marlo, 28, took acting lessons. He was filmed on “The Tonight Show” and appeared as an extra in Woody Allen’s movie “Celebrity,” said his father, Dennis Marlo. Last September, he finished shooting an episode for a dating show that included scenes outside his office at the World Trade Center.

Still, he was not acting when he told his mother, who was embarrassed to call him at the office, that she was more important than his job. Or when he encouraged his older sister, Christine, to finish college. Or when he formed the knot of friends that stayed with him for years. “He was such a good person, and he would do anything for people he loved,” said his girlfriend, Cindy Schwartz. She once told him over the phone that she wasn’t feeling well, and he turned up at her door with an assortment of medicines. It was 3 a.m.
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on July 28, 2002.

After Dennis Marlo lost his 28-year-old son, Kevin Marlo, in the World Trade Center attacks, he gathered with a group of Kevin’s friends. For three hours, they laughed, cried and told soul-soothing “Kevin stories.” “I needed it. I needed to hear the funny stuff too,” said Dennis Marlo of Malvern, Pa. “For someone who was just 28, he lived a full life. He didn’t hold back. I have such a deep respect for him.” Kevin Marlo lived in Manhattan and worked on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center as an associate director in equity sales and trading for Sandler O’Neill & Partners. But his heart was also in acting and he’d managed cameo appearances in a Woody Allen movie and on the Jay Leno Show. A week before he died, he finished filming a “reality-based” show for the WB Network in Colorado, a show his father said was a take-off on the dating game. The network is making a tape for the family and isn’t likely to air the episode, Dennis Marlo said.
Profile courtesy of THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE.

Kevin Marlo
The Marlo Family has established a scholarship fund in Kevin’s name:

* Kevin Marlo Memorial Scholarship Fund
c/o Harcum College
750 Montgomery Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

In addition, memorial contributions may also be made to:

* Sts. Philip and James Church
723 East Lincoln Highway
Exton, PA 19341

* The American Red Cross - Sept. 11 Fund
c/o Sovereign Bank
P.O. Box 12646
Reading, PA 19612

Matching funds contributed by Sovereign Bank

You can take a look at the page that Sandler O’Neill & Partners put up for all of their colleagues who perished on that fateful day here.

Kevin D. Marlo Golf Classic

The 7th Annual Kevin D. Marlo Golf Classic was held this year on August 7th at the Llanerch Country Club in Havertown, PA.

About the Tournament

On September 11, 2001 Kevin D. Marlo tragically perished in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. As an Associate Director for Sandler O’Neill Partners, Kevin was working on the 104th floor of the South Tower that day. Though pursuing a career in investment banking, Kevin’s potential and interests reached much further: he was also an accomplished athlete as well as an aspiring actor who had begun to realize his ambitions. Kevin was encouraged in this by his family: Dennis, Karen and Christine Marlo. His father, Dennis, serves as Chairman of the Harcum Board of Trustees, and his sister Christine, is a 2000 Harcum graduate and member of the National Alumni Board.

The Kevin D. Marlo Classic golf tournament honors Kevin’s memory and supports scholarships for Harcum students in allied health science fields. These scholarships are granted to students who have demonstrated academic achievement and a dedication to community service through participation in charitable and professional activities - values that Kevin himself demonstrated through his own commitments.