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Aged
26,
London,
England.
d. 7 July, 2005,
Tavistock Square bus, London. |
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No one could be left in any
doubt about the passion with which Anthony Fatayi-Williams was
loved by his family after hearing the deeply emotional speech
delivered by his mother in the wake of the London attacks. Then
still classed as "missing", Mr Fatayi-Williams was thought to have
been on the No 30 bus when it was blown open by a suicide bomber
at 0947BST. His mother Marie made her way to the scene of the
attack, and, in front of assembled reporters and cameramen, spoke
with raw emotion. "My son Anthony is my first son, my only son,
the head of my family. He's the love of my life. I am proud of
him, I am still very proud of him. What did he do to deserve
this?" Born in London of Nigerian parentage, Anthony's
Fatayi-Williams' origins were far from humble - his mother is a
senior oil executive, his father, one of Nigeria's leading medical
practitioners.Yet his career ambitions were matched by a strong
work ethic - at the time of his death he was studying for an MBA
through a distance learning course with Durham University.
His
boss, Richard Jenkins, had warm praise for the 26-year-old who
started work at engineering group Amec as a graduate trainee.
"Anthony was superb," he told the Guardian. "He came from a very
successful family and he wanted his parents to be proud of him."
Former colleague Patrick Phillips said he was an asset to his
employer "and one of the people that makes it a pleasure to go to
work". "I never heard him say a disrespectful word about or to
anyone. As an associate at work I will feel great loss at the
prospect of not having the opportunity to work with him sometime
in the future," he wrote. "Anthony was a bright light and he will
be missed." Born in January 1979, to a Catholic mother and Muslim
father, Anthony divided his childhood between Britain, France and
Nigeria, attending school in Sevenoaks, Kent, and Paris. He went
on to study for a degree in politics and economics at Bradford
University. He joined Amec's oil and gas business in 2002 and last
year became a regional executive developing new business in
Africa. He is said to have doted on his two younger sisters - one
of whom has Down's Syndrome. His joyful demeanour made a strong
impression on his former girlfriend, estate agent Clare Foreshaw,
from Aisthorpe, Near Lincoln. "He is so outgoing and positive
about life," she told the Lincolnshire Echo. But those qualities
also meant "he didn't handle sadness very well", as his cousin Tom
Ikimi Jnr, 26, told the congregation at his funeral in Westminster
Cathedral. "Tears and sadness don't do anything for Anthony at
this point. Only joy and happiness is the way he should be
remembered.". Courtesy BBC

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