Rick Rescorla saved over 2,600 people during 9/11 attacks

Rick Rescorla, a British-American former colonel and head of security for Morgan Stanley, is credited with saving 2,687 people from the South Tower during the September 11 attacks. Despite instructions to remain in the building after the first plane hit the North Tower, Rescorla initiated an immediate evacuation of the 22 floors occupied by Morgan Stanley.

A veteran of the British Army and the Vietnam War, Rescorla had long warned of the World Trade Center's vulnerability. Following the 1988 Pan Am bombing and the 1993 truck bombing, he advocated for the company to relocate and implemented rigorous emergency drills to prepare employees for potential aerial attacks.

Rescorla was last seen ascending the stairs of the tower to continue the evacuation efforts and did not survive the subsequent collapse of the structure.