‘Father Was a Hero,’ Family Is Told

NEW YORK — The relatives of murdered U.S. hostage Leon Klinghoffer said Thursday that they had spoken with his widow from Egypt and that she told them: “Your father was a hero.”

Jerry Arbittier, Klinghoffer’s son-in-law, told reporters outside the family’s Manhattan apartment that Marilyn Klinghoffer offered no details on how her husband was killed.

She and her two daughters, Lisa Arbittier and Ilsa Klinghoffer, discussed family matters during the early morning phone call and were “obviously grief-stricken,” he said.

Klinghoffer, 69, the retired owner of a Manhattan appliance shop, was killed by Palestinian gunmen who hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro. He and his wife were among more than 500 people taken hostage aboard the ship.