Frank E. Campbell (the Funeral Home), January 25, 2008: Photos

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

Frank E. Campbell, New York, January 2008 at 12:15 PM; sunny and very, very cold


Eyewitness to Eyewitness News (as a hearse heads West on 81st Street)



CBS News Channel 2 (as the empty hearse continues, crosses Madison to 81st)



81st Street and Madison Avenue



Should Have Been Half-Staff



Honor Guard



The Scrum Follows North



Poor Heath



At the 81st Street Side Entry--



--A Hearse Awaits



Journalists Texting



Meanwhile, One Block Away, Silent and Serene

[Ellemeno]

John, you elegant photo-documentarian. 

Of all the images, the only thing I can connect with Heath is the bicycle. 

As you know, this is right near where I grew up, and I passed that place all the time.  Never would have imagined any of this 40 years later.

[MaineWriter]

Yes, John, thank you for those pictures. My aunt and uncle lived at 111 East 80th Street so I have been in that neighborhood many times. When my aunt died, Campbell's did the funeral arrangements, so I have actually been in the building. It is sort of eerie to see it now and think of Heath.

L

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

Hello, Leslie!

(Small, small town in a small, small world--my doctor's office is at 111 East 80th--)

New Yorkers liked Heath. They liked him living here.

Sigh.

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

From The New York Times

Actor’s Body Is Leaving New York for Burial in Australia

Published: January 26, 2008

The body of the Australian-born actor Heath Ledger was taken from a Manhattan funeral home on Friday, and police officers who had been assigned to the funeral home said the body would be flown to Australia for burial.

Mr. Ledger, 28, was found dead in bed in his apartment on Tuesday. A bottle of prescription sleeping pills was nearby.

An autopsy on Wednesday was inconclusive, and the medical examiner’s office is awaiting the results of blood and tissue tests before announcing the cause of death.

About 100 fans, reporters and photographers spent hours on Friday waiting outside the funeral home, Frank E. Campbell, on Madison Avenue near 81st Street.

The police set up barricades there on Thursday and posted signs prohibiting parking on Friday along a two-block stretch of Madison Avenue around the funeral home.

Shortly before 4 p.m., a plain wooden box was loaded into a hearse, and the hearse pulled away. Officers who had been assigned to the funeral home said the box contained Mr. Ledger’s body.

There had been speculation that a service would be held in Los Angeles. But Mara Buxbaum, the publicist who had represented Mr. Ledger, wrote in an e-mail message, “There are no plans for a public service.”

[Meryl]

Thanks for those pictures, John.  All in the record now.  So sad. 

[LauraGigs]

Wow, JMM.

I've followed the press and all that, but *this* makes it seem all the more real to me.

-Laura

[ptannen]

Thanks, John. 

My Mom lived at 245 E. 80th Street (at 2nd Ave.) for almost 30 years.  I lived with her there (after my Dad passed away), when I was in high school, so this is "my neighborhood,"  too!

Pete

[Ellemeno]

Thanks, John. 

My Mom lived at 245 E. 80th Street (at 2nd Ave.) for almost 30 years.  I lived with her there (after my Dad passed away), when I was in high school, so this is "my neighborhood,"  too!

Pete

Pete, we overlapped.  I'm guessing I'm about 10 years younger than you maybe.