Rick Rescorla, Cornish-American colonel (b. 1939)
Cyril Richard Rescorla (May 27, 1939 – September 11, 2001) was an American soldier, police officer, educator, and private security specialist of British origin. He served as a British Army paratrooper during the Cyprus Emergency and a commissioned officer in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. He rose to the rank of colonel in the Army before entering the private sector, where he worked in corporate security.
As the director of security for the financial services firm Morgan Stanley at the World Trade Center, Rescorla anticipated attacks on the towers and implemented evacuation procedures credited with saving thousands of lives. He died during the attacks of September 11, 2001, while leading evacuees down the stairwells of the South Tower.