FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the family of Framingham native Todd Hill is focusing not on how he died, but on how he lived.
Hill, a former standout football player at Framingham North High School and UMass Amherst, was among the Massachusetts residents killed on Sept. 11, 2001. Today, his loved ones say his influence continues to inspire family members, friends, and the community he left behind.
“My brother Todd was just an amazing person,” his sister, Holly Little, said. “He was smart, he was funny, he was the life of the party.”
As the nation commemorates the 25th anniversary of the attacks, Little is choosing to remember the man behind the tragedy.
Hill, 34, worked as a salesman for QRS Corp. in Boston. He was in New York on business and staying on the 17th floor of a hotel within the World Trade Center complex when the attacks began.
After hearing the explosion that morning, Hill called his mother.
He told her they were evacuating and that he loved her.
“And that was the last time that anyone heard his voice,” Little said.
Hill was among the 2,977 victims killed in the attacks. His remains were never identified, something Little said added another layer of pain to her family’s grief.
“Not having that kind of closure, I think makes the pain of grief even more intense when you don’t have all the answers,” she said.
Despite that loss, Little says she has found the courage to tell her brother’s story 25 years later.
She credits Hill’s optimism, kindness, and ability to uplift those around him with shaping her own life and career as an attorney.
Little hopes others remember that even amid profound loss, gratitude can endure.
“Each person that we lost that day, all 2,977 people, all had an individual story,” she said. “They were all loved by someone, and they’re all missed. So yes, it’s important to commemorate the date, but it’s also so important not to forget those individual people and their own lives and their legacy that they leave behind.”
Hill’s legacy continues through scholarship programs established in his memory.
At Framingham High School, a scholarship bearing his name is awarded annually to a Black football player who embodies the team’s heart, character, and spirit.
UMass Amherst has also created a scholarship in Hill’s honor to support students from underrepresented backgrounds, ensuring future generations benefit from the values he carried throughout his life.
For Little and her family, those scholarships remind them that while Todd Hill’s life was cut short, his impact endures.
Twenty-five years later, his story remains one of resilience, leadership, and the lasting power of a life well lived.
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