The JCK family joins with our friends and colleagues in the jewelry, gem, and watch industries to honor the memories of all those who perished on September 11, 2001. We particularly remember with sadness our jewelry industry colleague Robert T. Speisman of Lazare Kaplan, one of too many innocent lives lost that day.

Speisman, the well-known executive vice president of Lazare Kaplan International, was on board American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757, which was en route to Los Angeles from Washington Dulles when it was hijacked by terrorists and flown into the Pentagon at 9:53 a.m. He was one of 58 passengers, four flight attendants, and two pilots who were on the plane.

Shortly after Speisman’s death, The Gemological Institute of America established the Robert T. Speisman Scholarship. The scholarship, valued at $1,195, is for GIA’s Distance Education Diamonds Program, one of the key components required to earn the Graduate Gemologist (G.G.) Diploma.

Again, the JCK family honors the memories of Spesiman and all of those who lost their lives in the tragedy.

JCK