Steve Fossett declared dead in court

[Young Drachma]

Story

Steve Fossett, the wealthy, record-setting adventurer who for years blithely sailed, soared and drove through all manner of danger before disappearing in September during what was meant to be a routine short flight, was declared dead on Friday by a Chicago court. He was 63 and had homes in Chicago, Beaver Creek, Colo., and Carmel, Calif.

Mr. Fossett was declared legally dead by Judge Jeffrey Malak of the Circuit Court of Cook County, said Mary C. Downie, an attorney for Mr. Fossett’s widow.

At 8 a.m. local time on Sept. 3, 2007, Mr. Fossett took off alone from the Flying-M Ranch, near Yerington, Nev., in a Citabria Super Decathlon, a single-engine two-seater. The ranch, about 75 miles southeast of Reno, is an invitation-only resort popular with well-to-do fliers. It is owned by the hotel magnate William Barron Hilton.

Mr. Fossett was scheduled to be back by noon but never returned. That evening, an intensive search was begun, with airplanes and a helicopter scouring vast swaths of the wild terrain on the Nevada-California border — known for its powerful winds, craggy peaks and sagebrush desert — over which he disappeared. Mr. Fossett filed no flight plan, and no signal was received from the missing plane’s electronic location beacon, according to news reports.

The search was called off after several weeks; the area where Mr. Fossett vanished is now largely snowbound. In late November, Mr. Fossett’s wife, Peggy, petitioned the court to have her husband declared dead. Mrs. Fossett testified at the hearing on Friday.

“She testified about the length of their marriage, the events on the morning of Sept. 3, and a little bit about how they met,” Ms. Downie, the lawyer, said in a telephone interview.

Mrs. Fossett also spoke in court about “Steve in his pursuit of adventure — how she felt about that,” Ms. Downie said. “She worried, but she was very proud of him.”

[Maple Leafs]

I'm certainly not happy that the guy died. But someday, "Millionaire Adventurers" will be placed alongside "Bonds Passing Ruth", "The 2007 Clemens Comeback" and "Barbaro" on the Mount Rushmore of things the media cares deeply about and nobody else does.

[Mantle2600]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

I'm certainly not happy that the guy died. But someday, "Millionaire Adventurers" will be placed alongside "Bonds Passing Ruth", "The 2007 Clemens Comeback" and "Barbaro" on the Mount Rushmore of things the media cares deeply about and nobody else does.

+1

[cartman]

I got to meet him a few times through Scouting. He was an Eagle Scout, and worked summers in his youth at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, and that is where I met him. He was a really down to earth guy that was fortunate to make a bunch of money so he could go out and have fun chasing all those records that he did.

[Axxon]

He was declared dead in court? I thought he was declared dead in absentia.

[bulletsponge]

if he was more famous there would be conspiracies about how he faked his death

[Schmidty]

Bummer. I thought he did a great job directing "All that Jazz".