Robert G. McIlvaine: Only One Dream Short

Growing up in Oreland, Pa., Robert G. McIlvaine had three dreams: to get a degree from Princeton, to experience life in New York City and to work at the heart of the financial universe.

"Bob achieved all three dreams," said Andre Parris, who was his college roommate for all four years before they graduated in 1997.

An assistant vice president for media relations at Merrill Lynch in the World Financial Center, Robert, 26, was representing his company in a banking conference on the 106th floor of 1 World Trade Center when the attack occurred.

"To him, New York was the center of everything, the place to be," said Mr. Parris, adding that Robert was about to make another dream come true: he and his fiancée, Jennifer Elizabeth Cobb, were making plans to marry.

"I've known Bob eight years," Mr. Parris said, "and I feel that he had finally come into his own as a person."