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Funny and Smart

Family and friends are learning a lot about Vincent Boland, who is missing from Marsh & McLennan at 1 World Trade Center.

"His friends are telling me that he was funny," said his mother, Joyce, a teacher and a nurse. "I didn't know that. At home, he was quiet. If you wanted to know something you had to ask him, you had to draw it out. He wasn't funny with his brother and sister."

On the other hand, his friend Kyle Mooney did not know that Mr. Boland was a member of Mensa, an organization for the highly intelligent. "I had no idea about that," Mr. Mooney said. "I'm not surprised because he was brilliant and could talk about anything in depth, even esoteric subjects. But Mensa was not something he talked about."

Among friends, Mr. Boland was known for his offbeat sense of humor; he was quick with a joke or cynical quip. Three years ago, after a friend was mugged on the subway, Mr. Boland decided that buses were safer. For six months, Mr. Mooney said, whenever anyone asked Mr. Boland how he was doing, he would say, "There are no worries on the bus."

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on October 4, 2001.