Mass. Bank Creates Fund for Family of 8-Year-Old Bomb Victim

Salem Five Cents Savings Bank has set up a fund to support the family of Martin Richard, the 8-year-old boy killed in the Boston Marathon bombing.

The $3 billion-asset mutual thrift's charitable foundation established the Richard Family Fund this week with a $5,000 donation. Others can contribute donations at Salem Five branches, or later make them online, according to the bank. Donations can also be mailed to: Salem Five, Attn: Richard Family Fund, 210 Essex Street, Salem, Mass. 01970.

Two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon killed three people and injured more than 170 others. Richard was a spectator at the Boston Marathon, watching his father, Bill Richard, participate in the race. Martin Richard's mother and sister were also seriously injured by the blasts. Bill Richard is a 1988 graduate of Salem High School.

The location where the bombs detonated, near the finish line at Copley Square, is notable for the huge crowds that gather there, says Charlie Crawford, the chairman and chief executive of Private Bank of Buckhead in Atlanta, who ran the Boston Marathon this year for the third time.

"I very vividly remember the spot," Crawford says. "It's right across from the Boston library where the grandstands are. That's an area where everyone tends to congregate."

Crawford, who was part of a large contingency from the Atlanta Track Club in Boston, finished the race about an hour before the bombs went off. Crawford's wife called him at his hotel room to inform him of the situation. He had planned to return to the finish line to watch his friends from the Atlanta Track Club cross the finish line, but instead left for the airport.

Crawford said he won't let the act of terror prevent him from running the Boston Marathon again.

"I fully intend to be back there next year and not let this be a deterrent," Crawford says.