American who survived 9/11 dies in Kenya terror attack
Businessman among 21 killed
American businessman Jason Spindler survived the Sept. 11 attacks in New York only to die this week in another act of terror.
The business investment adviser was among those killed Tuesday in a terror attack on a Kenyan hotel compound, the company he founded said Wednesday.
Men armed with guns and explosives burst into the DusitD2 compound, killing at least 21 people in an attack that lasted hours and ended Wednesday morning, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said.
A former Peace Corps member, Mr. Spindler was the founder, CEO and managing director of I-DEV International, a strategy and investment advisory firm that attempts to grow businesses in emerging markets.
Mr. Spindler was working in the World Trade Center 17 years ago when planes hit the towers, an IDEV spokesman said.
DusitD2 is an upmarket cluster of shops and hotel facilities in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, his company said.
Mr. Spindler’s mother, Sarah Spindler, told NBC News on Tuesday night that her son “was trying to make positive change in the third world in emerging markets.”
“We all miss him so much. And it’s so sad that such a bright young person is taken away by terrorism,” she told NBC News.
Mr. Spindler, a University of Texas business graduate who received a doctoral law degree at New York University, once served in the Peace Corps in northern Peru, where he “led the growth of a $7 million locally owned agribusiness,” a biography on I-DEV’s website says.
He also was an investment banker with Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup, and had advised more than 100 small- or medium-sized businesses in emerging markets, his biography reads.
Mr. Spindler is warmly remembered by those who knew him at NYU, the university’s law school said Wednesday.
“His tragic death is a loss not only to his loved ones but to the community of individuals dedicated to improving the lives of others through social enterprise,” the university’s statement reads.
A Briton also was confirmed to be among at least 21 people killed as the incident was brought to an end. He was named by development organization Gatsby Africa as Luke Potter, head of its forestry and tea portfolio.
More than 700 people were evacuated to safety in the course of the attack, Mr. Kenyatta said Wednesday.
Shortly before Mr. Kenyatta declared the attack over, gunshots and explosions could still be heard at the scene.
Six more bodies were found late Wednesday at the scene, according to Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett, speaking live on local television station Citizen TV. That brought the death toll to 21.