At Altman Group offices, two absences felt deeply

The lights were on this morning at the Fort Washington headquarters of the Altman Group, but not in the personal offices of Steven and Daniel Altman.

Those sat in darkness - one halfway down a long corridor, the other at the very end.

Reluctantly, Brett Altman stepped into each and fell silent.

He had been avoiding the work spaces of his brothers - who were also his business partners - since they and one of Daniel Altman's sons were killed Saturday, when a single-engine plane piloted by Steven Altman collided with a sightseeing helicopter carrying five Italian tourists and a pilot.

The aircrafts plunged into the Hudson River, where it forms the border between New York and New Jersey.

Today, Brett Altman shrugged off a jarring coincidence: The company he now leads without the benefit of two of its highly regarded principals is located in an office park where New York and New Jersey Drives intersect.

Conveying normalcy is his business focus right now, Altman said, and that of his remaining partner, Bob Bluth.

Of his personal situation, the 54-year-old Altman, a resident of Wyndmoor, said: "Surreal's the word."

The company is the latest iteration of a carpentry business Altman's father, David, formed in 1948 as a U.S. Marine veteran of World War II. It grew into one of the largest carpentry and drywall contractors on the East Coast.

It was in November 1993 that the current partnership was formed, consisting of the brothers and Bluth, who had worked for 11 years as the company's outside accountant before joining Altman in 1983 and eventually becoming one of its owners.

Now, the company comprises a collection of real estate businesses with 400 employees in five states - Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Minnesota. The primary companies are Altman Management Co., which operates 14,000 apartments in 70 communities, and Allied Construction Services, which has built more than 10,000 living units, including government-funded affordable housing.

It was a partnership that allowed each principal to indulge his particular passion.

For Steven Altman, 60, and Daniel Altman, 49, that was largely the acquisition side of the business.

"Steven and Dan were driving forces in terms of transactions and opportunities," Bluth said.

Brett Altman's expertise is construction, while Bluth, 67, of Cherry Hill, favors property management and operation.

At partnership meetings, Steven and Daniel Altman, both fitness buffs, would complain about sore abdominal muscles over breakfasts of bagels, lox, whitefish and fruit. When it got down to business, Brett Altman said, no matter the issue, "we would not leave without a consensus."

Last weekend's tragic events have underscored the importance of one thing the partners agreed to early on: a succession plan. It provided for the surviving principals to control and own the companies, and for the estates to maintain a position in the real estate partnerships, Brett Altman said.

It is a plan he and Bluth now intend to update, though they have not yet sorted out who would take on which duties.

"Bob and I plan on working this out together with our stakeholders," Altman said. The group from which they will seek input will include his father, who is 87 and lives in Blue Bell.

Bluth said he has not gotten much sleep since getting the call about the plane crash Saturday, as he was out to lunch in Ventnor.

Yet he has lined up another 500 apartment units to manage and has had numerous conversations with lenders and investors, Bluth said, to communicate to them "we're a formidable company, and we're in business."

Not counting summers as a teenager carrying drywall and lumber "from Place A to Place B," Brett Altman has been with the business since 1977, after graduating from Michigan State University with a degree in construction management.

During a 90-minute interview today, Altman grew emotional while describing the courage of his brothers' widows and expressing praise for the emergency crews who responded to the crash and searched the swift, murky waters of the Hudson for his brothers and nephew.

It was most difficult for Altman, who has one other brother and a sister, to talk about how he is coping.

"I start the day off very sad," he said, his voice catching as tears welled in his eyes. "I don't know if I can articulate what causes the weight."

Altman learned of the plane crash while he was on vacation in western New York. But his first real cry would not come until the last of the bodies of the nine victims was pulled from the Hudson earlier this week. Funeral services for Steven, Daniel and Douglas Altman, 15, are set for 10 a.m. tomorrow at Temple Sinai, 1401 N. Limekiln Pike, Dresher.

As Brett Altman turned on the lights of his brothers' offices today to accommodate a reporter's request, he took in the paperwork still on their desks, and the family photos on the windowsills and bookshelves.

"I don't know how to do this," he said, sighing at the thought of cleaning out their offices. "There's no manual for this."

He was, however, relieved to discover that someone had already removed two items - one from each office - he had dreaded seeing:

A toy plane and a toy helicopter.