Who founded the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and what is their background?
Executive summary
Frank Siller founded the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation in the months after his younger brother, FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller, was killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks; Frank serves as the foundation’s chairman and CEO and frames the charity as a family-led memorial to first responders and veterans [1] [2]. The organization has grown from a local memorial run into a large national charity providing mortgage-free homes, smart-home adaptations and other programs for first responders, veterans and their families, while attracting both high charity ratings and public controversy over certain financial decisions [3] [4] [5].
1. The founder and the founding story
Frank Siller, identified across the organization’s own materials as the founder, chairman and CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, launched the nonprofit to honor his brother Stephen Siller after Stephen died on September 11, 2001 while running through the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel toward the World Trade Center in full FDNY gear [1] [2]. The foundation’s name and signature events—most notably the Tunnel to Towers 5K run and tower-climb—explicitly commemorate Stephen’s route and sacrifice, and Frank has recounted starting the foundation shortly after the attacks as a way to “do good” in his brother’s memory [1] [2].
2. Frank Siller’s publicly described role and background
Public profiles and the foundation’s own pages describe Frank Siller as the family member who converted personal loss into an institutional mission, serving as the organization’s chief executive and public face while overseeing expansion of programs and events tied to 9/11 remembrance and veteran/first-responder support [1] [2]. Reporting and nonprofit databases document that under his leadership the foundation scaled from a Staten Island memorial run to a national nonprofit with diversified programs such as the Smart Home Program and Fallen First Responder Home Program that provide specially adapted homes and mortgage-free housing for eligible recipients [6] [3].
3. Scale, operations and measures of credibility
Independent charity evaluators and public filings cited in nonprofit directories show Tunnel to Towers has become a large philanthropic actor: CharityWatch gave the foundation an “A+” rating for program spending and governance benchmarks, and Charity Navigator lists a four‑star rating while the foundation reports delivering over 1,200 mortgage‑free homes and committing hundreds of millions across programs [4] [3]. ProPublica’s nonprofit explorer and GuideStar entries provide filings and mission descriptions that back the foundation’s program claims, including national memorial events and education efforts tied to 9/11 remembrance [7] [6].
4. Controversies and differing perspectives
While most coverage and the foundation’s supporters emphasize its charitable impact and memorial mission, reporting also records controversy: Wikipedia’s entry notes allegations that funds raised ostensibly for families of 9/11 responders were used to provide financial assistance to former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, a matter that introduced scrutiny and competing narratives about the organization’s spending decisions [5]. Those facts suggest a dual public perception—one that lauds large programmatic accomplishments and one that questions certain high-profile expenditures—so any assessment of the founder’s legacy must weigh both the foundation’s documented aid work and episodes that generated criticism [4] [5].
5. What the reporting does not resolve about the founder
Available sources establish Frank Siller’s central role in founding and leading Tunnel to Towers and detail the organization’s programs and third‑party ratings, but they do not provide a full independent biographical dossier on Siller’s earlier career, private finances, or the internal decision‑making processes that led to contested expenditures beyond summaries of the controversy; those remain gaps in the public record as reflected in the sourced material [1] [5] [7].