Airport security tightened in Burbank and long-held emotions were cut loose in Glendale as news surfaced Sunday that U.S. Navy Special Forces had killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
Burbank physician Yeneneh Betru died in the 9/11 attacks on American Airlines Flight 77, the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
After the attack, a clinic in Betru's name was established in Addis Ababa, the capital of his native Ethiopia.
Dottie Price, director of clinical programs at North Hollywood's IPC The Hospitalist Company, worked closely with Betru, traveling with him to interview newly hired doctors to generate educational materials.
She described him as a gentle, peaceful man dedicated to improving medical care. She last spoke to him on Sept. 10, 2001, and believed that the next day he was going to tell her that he had become engaged to be married.
“I think of him often, with deep sadness for a life cut too short and the reality that we were robbed of his ongoing contribution to medicine,” Price said in an email. “I would not honor him and his memory by hating and wishing revenge for his death. I'm not sure I can close the book on 9/11 other than wish it never happened.”