DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) 鈥� A man photographed fleeing smoke and debris as the south tower of the World Trade Center crumbled just a block away on Sept. 11, 2001, has died from coronavirus, his family said.
The Palm Beach Post reported that Stephen Cooper, an electrical engineer from New York who lived part-time in the Delray Beach, Florida area, died March 28 at Delray Medical Center due to COVID-19. He was 78.
The photo, captured by an Associated Press photographer, was published in newspapers and magazines around the world and is featured at the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York.
鈥淗e didn鈥檛 even know the photograph was taken,鈥� said Janet Rashes, Cooper鈥檚 partner for 33 years. 鈥淎ll of a sudden, he鈥檚 looking in Time magazine one day and he sees himself and says, 鈥極h my God. That鈥檚 me.鈥� He was amazed. Couldn鈥檛 believe it.鈥�
Rashes said Cooper was delivering documents near the World Trade Center, unaware of exactly what had happened that morning, when he heard a police officer yell, 鈥淵ou have to run.鈥�
The photo shows Cooper, who was 60 at the time, with a manila envelope tucked under his left arm. He and several other men were in a desperate sprint as a wall of debris from the collapsing tower looms behind them.
Cooper ducked to safety into a nearby subway station.
鈥淓very year on 9/11, he would go looking for the magazine and say, 鈥橪ook, it鈥檚 here again,鈥� said Jessica Rashes, Cooper鈥檚 27-year-old daughter. 鈥淗e would bring it to family barbecues, parties, anywhere he could show it off.鈥�
Susan Gould, a longtime friend, said Cooper was proud of the photo, purchasing multiple copies of Time and handing them out 鈥渓ike a calling card.鈥� She said Cooper shrank a copy of the photo, laminated it, and kept it in his wallet.
鈥淪tephen was a character,鈥� Gould said.
Suzanne Plunkett, the Associated Press photographer who snapped the shot, wrote that she has been in touch with two of the people in the photo, but Cooper was not among them.
鈥淚t is a shame I was never aware of the identity of Mr. Cooper,鈥� Plunkett wrote after his death in an email to The Palm Beach Post.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
