Boston tragedy was personal for money management execs

The Boston Marathon bombings were more than a news event for some employees at local money management firms.

Some were at the race when the bombs detonated; others were at home or at work. They shared their harrowing experiences.

Homemade bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, killing three and wounding scores more. Five days later in suburban Watertown, one bombing suspect died in a shootout with police, who later arrested the second suspect, his brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, in connection with the bombings and the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer.

And while those who were close to the bombings and the pursuit of the bombing suspects try to cope with the experience, they are also focused on helping survivors, particularly people who lost limbs, with the long recovery ahead.

“I was close enough to hear it, see it, feel it,” said Susan Brengle, director of institutional client service at Eaton Vance Corp., Boston, who was one-tenth of a mile from the finish line on Boylston Street when the first bomb went off April 15. “It was extremely loud and shaking.”

Ms. Brengle, who was running in her fourth Boston Marathon and sixth marathon overall, had just seen her husband and two teenage children and had passed the 26-mile marker.

“I had the finish line in my sights when the first explosion happened,” she said. “Then about 10 seconds later, the second one. ... At the time of the first explosion, I was running with people and we said to each other, "What was that? Was it fireworks?' and we all kept running.”

Ms. Brengle said it was “not my first thought” that it was a bomb. “I just hoped it was someone setting off fireworks.

With the second explosion, it erased any doubt that it was a bomb — I thought it was in the subway under Boylston Street and that another one might be coming, so we ran to the side of the road.

“Police were everywhere,” she said. “There was a lot of initial confusion. We ran into an open garage on the side of Boylston, but the police told us to get out. There were police on foot coming from everywhere, there were ambulances, people being attended to quickly. All kinds of vehicles.”

Immediately after the race, “my thoughts were of utter disbelief and the realization that something very, very bad occurred, and that there would be a vast amount of injury and loss of life,” Ms. Brengle said.

Her thoughts also turned to her family's safety. “I was so happy to see them,” she said. After the explosions, “I knew I was OK, but I had no way of knowing if they were. ... Eventually I was at a bench with other runners who helped me with a phone and I was reunited with them 35 to 40 minutes later.”

Five blocks from the site of the explosions, Ted Noon, senior vice president, director of North American business development, at Acadian Asset Management LLC in Boston, was enjoying lunch with his wife and 2-year-old son after completing his first Boston Marathon in 3:06, about 45 minutes before the blasts.

However, he did not hear the explosions.

“I got my medal and we went to have lunch at our apartment, and then my brother called and asked if we were OK,” Mr. Noon said. “I said, "Yeah, why?' Just then we heard helicopters and sirens. It just got very scary in a hurry.”

The thought of the explosions at the finish line was “terrifying,” for Mr. Noon. “My wife and 2-year-old son were about a block away from the finish line at the race. ... I have a picture of my 2-year-old looking under a fence about an eighth of a mile from the finish. That has been sticking with me all week. And we had it good, we were the lucky ones.”

He said three other runners from Acadian ran in the marathon; all but one crossed the finish line before the explosions; one was stopped by police a half-mile before the finish line after the blasts.

“He said he'd never been happier to run a slow marathon in his life,” Mr. Noon said.

Mr. Noon did not go to the scene after the explosions.

“It was very tightly cordoned off. In the days since, the level of equipment and weaponry, I've been taken aback by it,” he said. “There are Humvees and National Guard with M16s; I've never seen so many armored cars. Security is very tight all over the city.”

“My friends in the medical community and (race) volunteers, race personnel, they were amazingly organized. You could see that in the response,” he added. “That level of presence is the reason there were only three deaths (from the explosions). The medical response was remarkably fast. You can't really be prepared for something like that.”

Nor could residents be prepared for what came five days later, on April 19, when the suspect was discovered hiding in a boat in a yard in suburban Watertown — about 300 yards from the home of Shanta Puchtler, chief investment officer and director of research at Numeric Investors LLC in Boston.

He did not know the homeowner who found the suspect.

“It was a crazy day,” Mr. Puchtler said, whose home is also about a mile from the shootout the night before between the two brothers and police.

Although police sent out calls to all landlines at about 2:30 a.m. EDT April 19 warning residents to remain in their homes, Mr. Puchtler, who does not have a landline, only learned of the alert from a friend who called his cell phone at 4:30 a.m.

He and his neighbors were ordered to stay in their homes until about 6 p.m. EDT, although the suspect had not yet been found.

“Everyone poured out on to the streets,” he said. “I could sense something was happening. A helicopter that looked like it was going away turned around, and police turned around, and then someone said, "We're back in lockdown.' Then I heard gunfire as they engaged the guy in the boat. And I heard the flash bangs. It could have all been shots or all flash bangs, but I definitely heard whatever they were. It was freaky. ... The irony was, people didn't go back inside; it was unfolding so quickly. More crowds showed up. Police just put up tape (about three blocks from the boat) and said you couldn't get any closer.”

Instead of returning to his home, Mr. Puchtler and others formed a crowd about three blocks from the home with the boat in which the suspect was hiding.

“The swarm of police was overwhelming; bumper-to-bumper police cars,” he said.

The mood soon changed in the crowd to one of elation when the suspect was captured, as residents lined the streets as police in a variety of vehicles filed away from the scene.

“Chants of "USA! USA!' broke out,” Mr. Puchtler said. “Some state troopers with their windows rolled down would high-five people as they passed. That stream of cars went on for about a half-hour. People were waving miniature U.S. flags. People were also saying "God bless America.' And there was applause — a lot of applause.”

The shock of the blasts wasn't just the explosion but what it did to those in the race and the people of Boston, both Mr. Noon and Ms. Brengle said.

“It was an unbelievably nice Marathon Monday, just a "10' of a day.” Mr. Noon said. “There's a range of emotions. It went from elation to dread to anger. It's a nice day, a nice race, friendly competition that showed off Boston at its best. And then to think that someone would do that at such an event ... it's so cowardly to me.”

Said Ms. Brengle: “The marathon is such an incredible event in this city. ... The powerful human spirit has emerged time and time again this week despite all the horror. I think next year the marathon is going to be the most incredible race; it'll bring even more people to the sidelines to watch it.”

In New York, officials at A Leg to Stand On, a non-profit organization that assists those with catastrophic limb injuries, went into action to offer to help coordinate with charitable trusts in Boston like the One Fund to benefit victims of the explosions, said Mead Welles, managing principal at Infineon Capital Management LLC, New York, who is also co-founder and chairman of the group.

“After the marathon, we looked at how we could help those who suffered amputations and, to the extent that they don't have insurance, to help with prosthetics and insurance,” Mr. Welles said.

The group has had much interest from money managers and individuals asking to donate, but “it's still early days” as the group determines how best to help.

Those interested in the program can call 212-683-8805 or visit the organization's website.