Montclair Man Identified As 9/11 Victim; Family Gets ‘Finality’

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Scott Michael Johnson will be remembered in his Montclair community for his “quiet, firm sense of what was truly important” in life: family, friends, knowledge and adventure.

Case in point, he’d been planning a trip to Cuba, according to his obituary. And then came September 11, 2001.

On Wednesday – nearly 17 years after the tragic events of 9/11 – Johnson, who grew up in Montclair and worked as an analyst for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in the World Trade Center, was officially identified as one of the victims of the September 11 attacks on New York City, according to The New York Times.

The New York City Medical Examiner’s office was able to use advances in DNA testing to identify Johnson’s remains as one of the 2,753 victims killed in the attack. The bodies of 1,111 people are still unidentified, The Times reported.

The last time authorities made a positive identification was in August 2017, The Times stated.

Johnson, who was 26-year-old at the time of his passing, was born at Mountainside Hospital in Glen Ridge. He graduated from Montclair Kimberley Academy (MKA) in 1993, and Trinity College in Hartford, CT, in 1997.

His parents, Ann and Tom Johnson, said they are not planning any services, but said the revelation brought “a finality” to their family, The Times reported.

A memorial scholarship fund established in his name at MKA reads:

“Established in the wake of 9/11 by Scott’s friends and family to pay tribute to his life. (Scott Johnson ’93 was among the victims in the World Trade Center tragedy.) This fund supports an annual award given to the senior who has, in the same spirit as Scott, best demonstrated a spirit of warmth, generosity and goodwill toward others.”

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Photo: Freedom Tower and National September 11 Memorial & Museum (Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock)