Melissa Harrington-Hughes worked for a California software company.

She was killed at age 31 in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack while in a meeting on 101st floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. She was meeting executives of the management consultancy company Accenture.

Her message on husband's answering machine saying that she just wanted to tell him she loved him became one of the poignant symbols of the victims of the attack. They married in August 2000.