Anita Datar grew up in New Jersey and was working for a company out of Maryland.
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The siege ended after police stormed the building and freed dozens of hostages.
The two graduated as in the class 1991 from Mount Olive High School in Flanders, where Henderson described Datar was one of those people everyone knew would go on to accomplish big things.
“We are devastated by the loss of our wonderful daughter, who’s doing the work she loves”.
The station quoted Datar’s family as saying she earned her miles per hour and MPA from Columbia University’s Joseph Mailman School of Public Health and School of worldwide and Public Affairs.
The US ambassador to Mali called her family late Friday afternoon to inform them, Datar’s mother, Sunanda Datar, said in a brief phone call.
Gunmen armed with grenades moved in just before 7 a.m. driving a Toyota SUV with diplomatic plates and started shooting in an attack that left at least 20 dead including American Anita Datar.
U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry issued a statement offering his “deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and injured” and vowing that the U.S. Embassy in Bamako stands ready “to provide support to the Malian government in the investigation” of the rampage.
Col. Mark Cheadle of the U.S. Army’s Africa Command said USA special forces assisted during the counterattack and that at least six Americans were evacuated from the hotel.
The French Defense Minister believes North African al qaeda operative Mokhtar Belmokhtar is responsible for the attack.
Datar was a senior manager at Palladium Group, a Washington, D.C.-based organization focused on global development.
In addition to the 19 civilians killed, a member of the Malian security services was killed, a United Nations spokesman said.
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Two of the attackers were killed.
