Oliver Bennett

Photo: Alex Towle

Oliver Bennett, my son, was killed in the World Trade Centre terrorist attack on September 11^th 2001.

He worked for Risk Waters as a financial journalist and was attending a conference on that day.

When he was killed, we as a family, along with school and university friends, set up a charity in his name to support young entrepreneurs – www.olibennett.org.uk. The charity is thriving, 20 years after his death, and we have supported 150 young people aged 18–29 in their ambition of setting up their diverse businesses.

As a family, this has given us enormous energy to keep Oli’s memory alive, and we hope that the young people we support will benefit in their own efforts from what we knew as his enthusiasm and creativity.

One of our trustees recently set up an anonymous online art auction to raise funds, which was hugely successful and financially rewarding. This can be found on ‘Oli postcards’. The art is donated by artists both famous and more amateur.

We miss Oli daily – his humour, laid-back approach to life and his intention to return to London that October, which never happened. Twenty years is a long time, but our grief is as painful now as it was then, as we approach the 20^th anniversary of his death.

On reading this, some people still at Risk Waters will remember Oli as he was, as a 29-year-old starting his life, which was cut short by this atrocity. Others will sympathise with our personal loss. Whichever, Oli’s name will be remembered.

‘Grief is the price we pay for love’ – an inscription in the memorial garden in Grosvenor Square remembering all 67 British victims of the attack.

Joy (mother) Adrian (father) and Justin (brother) Bennett. Chris and Robbie, his nephews, who never knew him

If you would like to view all the articles in our 9/11 commemoration, click here