Karen R. Mesiha
Karen Rickenbach Mesiha, 54, a survivor of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, and the daughter of East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. and his wife, the former Jean Smith, died of cancer on Dec. 12 at St. Francis Hospital in Flower Hill, a village in Nassau County, after a long illness.
Born on July 10, 1961, at Southampton Hospital, Ms. Mesiha grew up in East Hampton, graduating from its high school in 1979. She went on to study at Brooklyn College and make New York City her full-time home.
After graduation, she found a niche working in the financial district. But it was her devotion to the arts that gave her spiritual sustenance, her family said. She wrote short stories and poems, often focusing on nature, animals, and the simplicities of life. She loved music, in particular, reggae, and after establishing a record label, produced many recording artists both in New York and London.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, she was at work for Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood, the fifth largest American-based corporate law firm at the time. It had offices on the 56th to 60th floors of the north tower of the World Trade Center, the first to be struck, but the second to fall. Most of the firm’s employees made it out, according to The New York Times, but many friends who worked on higher floors, or in the other tower, did not.
Ms. Rickenbach was one of the last to exit the building before its collapse. Toxic dust had been descending from the north tower, and it was exacerbated by its collapse.
It was many hours after the attack before Ms. Rickenbach was able to contact her family and tell them she had survived. “Although she escaped the building that horrific day, the medical issues to follow were just beginning,” her family wrote in a memorial letter.
Still, there were joyful moments to come. On Christmas Day, 2002, in a ceremony conducted by her father, Karen Rickenbach married Sherif G. Mesiha at the Main Beach Pavilion in East Hampton. The couple made their home in Syosset and had a daughter, Yasmin Mesiha, who is now 12.
Ms. Mesiha was an advocate for abused and abandoned animals. “She wanted all animals to be fed, sheltered, and loved,” her family said, and was a strong supporter of rescues and shelters.
Besides her husband, daughter, and parents, Ms. Mesiha is survived by a sister, Cynthia Filippelli of Westhampton Beach.
A funeral Mass was said for Ms. Mesiha on Dec. 15 at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church in Syosset. She was buried at the Most Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery in East Hampton.
The family has suggested contributions to a memorial tree fund that has been set up in her name by the Ladies Village Improvement Society, 95 Main Street, East Hampton 11937.