Erin Piacenti‘s family has raised over $1 million for her baby girl after she was fatally stabbed in New York City’s Times Square following her first day back to work from maternity leave.
Piacenti, 32, just finished her first day back to work as a vice president at the Bank of America when Pamela Cisneros fatally stabbed her in the abdomen. She died just five months after she and her husband, Frank Piacenti, welcomed their first child, a daughter, together.
Following her death, Erin’s loved ones set up a GoFundMe to help raise money for her daughter in the aftermath of the tragedy.
While the fundraiser had an initial goal of $750,000, the donations totaled up to more than $1.08 million as of Tuesday, September 15. Once the fundraiser met the original goal, the target amount was increased to $1.2 million.
Several major companies — including Bloomingdale’s, The Rockefeller Group and Major League Baseball — have donated to the fund, as well as supporters from across the country and around the world.
In the GoFundMe description, Erin’s family said that being a mother was her “lifelong ambition” and welcoming her daughter was the “greatest possible joy.”
“Erin’s life was defined not by the circumstances of her death, but instead by the way she lived. Erin was deeply devoted to her family and friends, exceptionally bright and accomplished, and was someone who brought warmth and energy to the people around her,” the page read.
Erin graduated from the University of Pennsylvania before she started her career as a buyer at Bloomingdale’s. She later graduated from Fordham University School of Law magna cum laude and worked at Davis Polk for several years before she joined the Bank of America.
“Erin’s career accomplishments, however, speak to only a small portion of who she was. To the people who knew and loved her, Erin was a thoughtful daughter and sister, a loyal friend, a devoted partner and companion in every aspect of Frank’s life, and, most recently, an incredibly loving mother,” the description continued.
“Erin and Frank celebrated their second wedding anniversary this summer, had just returned from a family road trip upon her passing, and were preparing to build a life together with their new daughter,” the page read. “That life changed incomprehensibly in an instant.”
After Cisneros, 49, stabbed Erin, she attacked Tak Kam as he exited the subway. Kam, 68, was taken to Bellevue Hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.
Officers with the New York City Police Department quickly intercepted Cisneros after the stabbings, and she was fatally shot when she refused to put the two knives she was holding down.
While Cisneros had no arrest record, authorities said she had known to the NYPD and she had a documented mental health history.
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