Speaking to hundreds of mourners on Thursday, the daughter of slain Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner delivered a tearful eulogy as her mother was laid to rest after she was shot to death in the lobby of her New York City office building earlier this week.
“My mom was like my rock,” the 14-year-old told the congregation at Central Synagogue in Midtown Manhattan, according to the New York Post.
LePatner was gunned down in the lobby of 345 Park Avenue on Monday after a man opened fire inside the office building, killing four people before taking his own life.
Evan LePatner and Wesley LePatner attend DiMenna Children’s History Museum Family Benefit Party 2018 on January 20, 2018, in New York City. (Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
“It is overwhelming and awesome all at once,” her husband said. “It speaks to the supernatural abilities Wesley had and the way she made the world better for all of us.”
LePatner’s father, Larry Mittman, remembered that his newborn daughter seemed “to have the most intelligent eyes that I have ever seen.”
“I held Wesley in my arms with these two huge eyes, looking not only at me, but looking around the delivery room,” Mittman said. “And it was almost like a periscope circling the room.”
LePatner previously served on the UJA-Federation of New York board with Merryl Tisch, the mother of NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who referred to LePatner as her “beautiful friend” at a vigil earlier this week, the Post reported.
Three additional victims – NYPD Police Officer Didarul Islam, security guard Aland Etienne and a Rudin employee – were also remembered at services throughout the city following their deaths.
LePatner’s daughter spoke about the scope of her loss, telling those gathered, “Every time I hear the doorbell ring I think it’s her, and I get excited. I just miss her so much.”
