Updated at 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14
Edward “Ted” Hennessy, Kellogg ’93, is presumed dead after being on board American Airlines Flight 11 when it crashed Tuesday morning into the north tower of the World Trade Center. He was 35.
Hennessy, who worked as a management consultant for Emergence LLC, lived in Belmont, Mass., with his wife, Melanie Salisbury, and two children: Rachel, 6, and Matthew, 3. He was flying from Boston to Los Angeles for business.
Hennessy stood 5’10” and had blue eyes, thinning blond hair and a self-described “head that looked like a thumb,” his wife said. He loved music and spending time with his children, and he enjoyed combining his passions.
“He loved to play guitar for (our children) and dance to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones in the living room after dinner with them,” she said. “He was a wonderful daddy.”
Hennessy also liked to read stories to his children and take them to zoos and science museums. In the winters he would take them sledding.
He played a variety of instruments, but his favorite was the electric guitar. While at Kellogg, he was involved with “The Special K Revue,” Kellogg’s annual musical, as well as being in a band that played gigs at Evanston birthday parties.
Hennessy and Salisbury met in 1989 in Somerville, Mass., where they were living in the same building. They were engaged before he enrolled at Kellogg and were married a week before his first midterms.
Outside schoolwork and musical interests, Hennessy spent his time in Evanston with Salisbury and their friends. They often went to museums and ate at Dave’s Italian Kitchen.
After graduating from Kellogg, Hennessy worked at a string of consulting jobs. He landed at Emergence three years ago.
Salisbury said she and her husband spent a lot of time together in their Belmont home doing projects around the house.
“We hardly ever went out to movies, because when we had time to be alone together we wanted to talk,” she said. “He was very ordinary, very domestic.”
Hennessy also enjoyed traveling. The couple took frequent trips to Cape Cod, and they recently visited Spain.
He is survived by his wife and children.
