Family row over September 11 victim's remains resolved

THE family of an Irishman who died in the World Trade Center says a row over his remains will be resolved by dividing up his ashes among three parties.

Belfast man Michael Stewart's remains have been lying in a New York funeral parlour since the body was pulled from the rubble of World Trade Centre One in March.

The 42-year-old's remains have been at the centre of a row between his former wife, his girlfriend and members of his family in Ireland. Following the discovery of the body - one of the last to be recovered from Ground Zero - ex-wife Diana Stewart took legal action as she feared his family would bring the remains back home.

In New York, Mrs Stewart claimed that her former husband told his 14-year-old son, Franco, that he wanted to be buried in New Jersey.

She said the body would not be returned to Ireland "against his wishes."

But speaking in Belfast yesterday, his sister Janet said: "We did not want to bury him in Northern Ireland." She said her family had agreed with his girlfriend Kristin Galusha-Wild that cremation was the most appropriate option.

"That way we can deal with the remains and make three urns," she said. Mr Stewart's sister described the legal wrangle as very stressful.

But she said the various parties had now come to an agreement that the body should be cremated and the ashes placed in the three separate urns.

Mr Stewart's ex-wife also said the matter had been resolved "to her satisfaction." A banker with Carr's Futures, Mr Stewart lived in Brooklyn with Ms Galusha-Wild and two-year-old son Liam.

He had two other children by his ex-wife, 14-year-old Franco and Eamon, 11.

Mr Stewart was born in Belfast in 1959 and educated at Whitehouse Primary School and Belfast High School. He moved to the US in 1981.

Three members of the Stewart family - Janet, sister Geraldine and their mother Lily - travelled to New York in September and later held a memorial service for him in Belfast.