By Stephen McKinley
The remains of a Belfast-born World Trade Center victim have been prevented from leaving the United States for burial in Northern Ireland, after his ex-wife insisted that the late Michael James Stewart had wanted to be buried in America.
Stewart, 42, was born a Protestant in Belfast. He immigrated to the United States in 1981 and was employed in banking and finance over the years, most recently with Carr Futures on the 92nd floor of 1 World Trade Center.
Stewart’s ex-wife, Diana, claims that she was not kept informed of the finding of her husband’s remains last month, and that attempts have been made to keep her in the dark by Stewart’s family in Northern Ireland.
At work on the morning of Sept. 11, Michael Stewart was almost certainly killed by the impact of the first plane, which struck the tower without warning at 8:46 a.m., between the 93rd and 103rd floors.
He is survived by his ex-wife and two sons, Franco, 14, and Eamon, 11. The couple divorced in 1998. He is also survived by his mother in Ballyclare, Co. Antrim, and two sisters in Belfast, as well as a brother.
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Most recently, Stewart lived in Brooklyn with his partner, Kristen Galusha-Wild, and their 2-year-old son, Liam.
The case of Stewart’s body illustrates some of the complexities, legal and otherwise, that some Sept. 11 victims’ families have had to face.
Stewart’s legal next-of-kin is his mother, who asked that the body be returned to Northern Ireland for burial.
None of Stewart’s Northern Irish family relatives were available for comment as the Echo went to press.
Diana Stewart said that her ex-husband had said in a conversation with his sons that he wanted to be buried in the U.S.
In a fax sent to New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, New Jersey Sen. Jon Corzine, the U.S. State Department and other government bodies, Diana Stewart alleged, “I found out this past Thursday, March 28th, that the remains of my only husband were found and now are being shipped out of the U.S. tomorrow [Tuesday, April 2nd].
“Our sons and I have been very disturbed by the consistent disrespect and rudeness accompanying this recent run of events.”
She told the Echo that she had been “off-put by Michael’s mother’s actions,” who, she said, had never forgiven Michael for moving to the U.S.
A funeral home, Campbell’s, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, confirmed that it had the remains of Michael Stewart, but a spokesperson there said that after Diana Stewart’s faxed request for help, the return of the body to Northern Ireland by Tuesday “looks increasingly unlikely” until legal questions are resolved.
Stewart alleges that the British Consulate in New York has assisted in keeping her in the dark. The Consulate issued a response to this allegation, saying that any issue between Diana Stewart and her relatives by marriage was a private family matter.
Diana Stewart said: “The funeral home was very surprised to find that there was a wife or even children for him.”
She said that after Sept. 11, her two sons had provided the DNA samples that would later be used to identify Stewart’s remains. But she added that Stewart’s mother came to New York and accepted his death certificate in November 2001, although she herself accepted the initial compensation offered.
She also said that Stewart was in touch with his sons and her every week, and was to have taken the children to a Yankees game on Sept. 12. It was during a day out with his sons that Stewart visited a New Jersey cemetery, to help with a school project on American settlers, that Diana Stewart said he expressed a wish to be “buried next to you guys.” She added that he often commented on how beautiful New Jersey cemeteries were.
In the New York Times obituary for Stewart, his partner, Galusha-Wild, was quoted as saying that Stewart had said that “being a dad” was the proudest achievement of his life.
By all accounts, Stewart was an unconventional man, who was at one point a poetry major at Stirling University in Scotland.
Later, he received an MBA and worked in finance but, it was said, never gave up the earrings that he wore since his youth.
He was a passionate rugby player. When he arrived in New York, he quickly joined the Old Blue rugby club and played wing forward from 1981-89.
In the New York Times’ “Portrait of Grief” for Michael Stewart, a friend, Greg Finn, was quoted as saying: “He looked like a skinny, little guy with crazy sideburns and a goatee, and he wore all black. He looked like a punk rocker; he didn’t look athletic. People looked at him and wondered, ‘Who is this guy?’ I think Michael enjoyed that. He believed you couldn’t judge a book by its cover.”
On-line, at the New York Times’ website, several people who remembered Stewart wrote replies to the obituary. One woman wrote, “Michael and I attended Belfast High together. We took English and History together and I have fond memories of lively debates.
“Although we lost touch after school, in a strange way our lives mirrored each other — university in Scotland, followed by almost 20 years in the States. I was recently in New York and took my two daughters to Ground Zero.
“At that time I had no idea that Michael had lost his life there. It was a profoundly moving experience.
“My sympathies go out to Michael’s family here in the States and across the water. I can only imagine your grief.”