The seventh annual Run for Peace, held in memory of a local victim of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, will take place Saturday morning at William Penn Charter School, at 3000 W. Schoolhouse Lane in East Falls.
Peter Ortale, a Northwood native and 1983 Penn Charter graduate, was killed when a hijacked United Airlines plane crashed into the World Trade Center.
Ortale, 37, was working for Euro Brokers on the 84th floor of the center’s South Tower in New York. Several minutes earlier, a hijacked plane crashed into the North Tower.
Sixty-one employees and friends of Euro Brokers died that day.
At the time of Ortale’s death, he’d been married for just 16 months.
Ortale grew up on the 4900 block of Castor Ave. and attended St. Martin of Tours before enrolling at Penn Charter, where he starred in football and lacrosse.
At Duke University, he graduated in 1987 with a degree in political science. He was a three-year co-captain in lacrosse and was named All-American.
Since his death, he’s been inducted into the Pennsylvania Lacrosse Association Hall of Fame. Duke has planted magnolia trees in memory of Ortale and five other alums who died in the attacks.
Penn Charter hosts a memorial lacrosse game and has started the Peter K. Ortale Scholarship Fund. Donations to that fund can be sent to 3000 W. Schoolhouse Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19144.
The scholarship is partially funded by the Run for Peace, which is held in memory of Ortale and Kenny Caldwell, a 1989 Penn Charter graduate who also died in the terrorist attacks.
Registration starts at 8:15 a.m. on Saturday. The 5K run kicks off at 9, followed by a one-mile family fun walk at 9:15.
The cost is $25, or $10 for children age 12 and younger.
Meanwhile, family and friends of Alisha Levin gathered this past Saturday morning at Abington’s Alverthorpe Park for the second annual Memorial Run to Remember.
Levin, 33, who grew up on the 1300 block of Wells St. in Castor Gardens and graduated from Northeast High School in 1986, was killed when the plane crashed into the South Tower. She was working for Fuji Bank, which lost 23 employees that day.
Proceeds from the 5K run and walk benefited the Alisha C. Levin Memorial Fund, which benefits scholarships at her alma maters, Northeast High and Hofstra University, and other charities.
Donations can be sent to The Philadelphia Foundation, 1234 Market St., Suite 1800, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Write “Alisha C. Levin Memorial Fund” on the memo line of the check. ull;•
