Eugene L. Baum, a graduate of Washington University with three degrees, and a helicopter rescue pilot honored for his work on 9/11, died Monday, August 25, 2008, of pancreatic cancer in Sacremento, Calif. He was 67 years of age.

Eugene Lyle Baum was born Nov. 27, 1940, and attended Delmar Harvard Elementary School and Hanley Junior High School in University City, and graduated from the Horton Watkins Ladue High School. He was also a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in 1962, a master’s degree in 1963 and a Ph.D. degree in 1969.

After graduating from Washington University, Mr. Baum fulfilled a lifelong dream of flying by getting helicopter and fixed wing pilot licenses. In 1964, he joined the Missouri Civil Air Patrol/Coast Guard Search and Helicopter Rescue as a pilot. He moved to New York City and became the director of the New York State Civil Rights Office.

Mr. Baum became a volunteer in 1972-1998 for the Coast Guard Search and Rescue as a pilot.

His squadron had 160 confirmed rescues and he flew in the “Perfect Storm” of Oct. 29, 1991. He retired as the New York State Director of Insurance Regulation and from the Coast Guard Rescue in 1998, and lived very close the the World Trade Center.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Mr. Baum saw the two hijacked planes hit the twin towers.

He gathered his rescue equipment that he kept on hand and raced to the scene.

He is credited with saving the lives of seven people, and received the New York City Mayor’s Award from then Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

That afternoon, Mr. Baum suffered a massive heart attack, which limited his activities and prevented him from attending his Ladue Horton Watkins High School reunion.

On Sept. 30, 2001,

Mr. Baum wrote a letter to his brother Arthur, also a native St. Louisan and a practicing clinical

psychologist in Sacremento, and to Mr. Baum’s daughters, Amber and Lark.

In the letter, he provides a minute-by-minute description of his efforts to rescue victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack, including the seven people he was able to save, and a montage of photos of “people who died in front of my eyes.” The group included many of his friends with whom he had shared rescue missions and Rev. Mychal Judge, their chaplain, “who held us all

together. I went to each memorial and cried my eyes out, and I wanted to die 12 times.”

Mr. Baum is survived by his brother, Arthur Baum and his daughters, Amber and Lark, of Sacramento, Calif.