British and American relatives battle over burial of millionaire, 97
A TRANSATLANTIC tug of war has broken out over the final resting place of a dead millionaire who had wives in America and Britain.
Paul Lewis Morigi, a former Morgan Stanley financier and Second World War hero, died last year aged 97.
The High Court has heard how his “first and last love” was Eastbourne resident, Olive Murphy, 92, whom he married in 1944 after a wartime romance.
The couple then split up when Olive refused to move to the United States, and he spent the next 60 years married to fellow American Muriel Morigi, 96.
In 2011, after splitting with Mrs Morigi, he moved back to England and remarried Miss Murphy at the age of 92.
After his death, a bitter row erupted between his American family and Miss Murphy and her relatives, over who should be entitled to “lie next to him for all eternity.”
Karolyn Morigi-armstrong, the late Mr Morigi’s daughter, and his four grandchildren won an injunction just before Christmas last year preventing his British widow from burying him in the UK. And, as a result, the banker’s body has lain in storage with a Sussex undertaker for nearly a year. Now Judge Stuart Issacs QC is being asked to decide where he will be finally laid to rest.
Mr Morigi was a commanding officer in the US Navy when he met and married Miss Murphy, who is originally from Northern Ireland. The couple divorced in 1948, after Miss Murphy refused to move to the USA over fears she would miss her family too much.
Mr Morigi married his second wife in the same year, but he divorced her in 2011 and moved to Eastbourne, re-marrying Miss Murphy, with whom he lived until the end. He died “a wealthy man... who did very well for himself” and bought himself a Maserati whilst in his 90s, the court heard.
Joshua Swirsky, for the Murphy family, told the judge that the wishes of Mr Morigi’s British widow must be honoured and “outweigh” the feelings of his American relatives.
“His widow, Olive Murphy, wants to be near his grave. If he is buried in the US, given her age and state of health, she will never be able to visit the grave,” he said.
“If he is buried in the UK, not only can she visit the grave during the remainder of her life but she can lie next to him for all eternity,” the barrister went on.
But the American family have argued that his final resting place should be in the family plot in Connecticut.
Anna Armstrong, one of Mr Morigi’s American granddaughters insisted it had always been his desire to be buried in the United States.
“There was no mention of alternative burial plans,” she said.
The court heard that Mr Morigi’s son had died and he had expressed a desire to be buried next to him when the time came.
A family member said: “He told me he wanted to be buried next to his son because he was his best friend, and he wanted to be with him for all eternity.” The hearing continues.