Focus: 49-year-old Edward Storey was found dead in Cusco, Peru and tested positive for coronavirus.
Friends, colleagues and former schoolmates of a New Zealander who died in Peru of Covid-19 have described him as a kind, caring, "beautiful soul".
Edward Spencer Storey died around Easter in the small tourist town of Cusco, in the Peruvian Andes.
Storey had been travelling since January, heading to Thailand, then Peru to celebrate his upcoming 50th birthday before planning to fly home at the end of March.
But Peru went into lockdown in mid-March, while he was halfway through tramping the Inca Trail.
The country closed its borders, imposing quarantines and curfews enforced by troops and police. His trek cancelled, he came back to Cusco to shelter in place, as advised by the New Zealand Government.
He texted family on April 7 to say he was holed up on his own in an apartment, awaiting a mercy flight home.
But he never showed up for the flight, which arrived in New Zealand on April 15. A missing persons notice was put out and Storey was found dead in the apartment on April 17. It's not clear what day he died.
He was swabbed for Covid-19 after death. While family have said there was some initial confusion over testing - with conflicting reports from Peruvian health authorities - mother Delysse Storey told the Herald yesterday an autopsy has now confirmed the virus caused his death.
Peru has been badly hit by the virus, with its first case reported on March 6 in a man who had recently travelled to Europe.
More than 19,000 cases have now been confirmed in the country of 32 million, with 530 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
They include a number of tourists.
News of Storey's untimely death has saddened many who knew the 49-year-old, described as kind, private and highly intelligent.
Edward Storey, who died in Peru of Covid-19, has been described as a strong contender for the world's nicest guy. Photo / Supplied
James Gilbert - who was in the same year as Storey at King's - commented on his online death notice in the Herald: "He was a popular choice for head boy and always a strong contender for World's Nicest Guy. Although we moved in different circles he always had time to stop and say 'Hi'," he wrote.
Arwin Sinnathambi, who went to university with Storey, said he was "a good man to talk with during those stressful days, a good listener too".
Helen Guissane, a former colleague, called him "kind, intelligent, witty, giving and caring person ... a beautiful man and a beautiful soul".
Former King's College headmaster John Taylor was in his second year on the job when Storey became head boy in 1989.
As a new headmaster, Taylor was making changes that weren't always popular with the senior boys, he said.
Edward Storey was head boy at Kings College in Auckland in 1989 - pictured here with headmaster John Taylor. Photo / Supplied
"Edward was always a very, very good, calm influence and very loyal to me. He must have had the odd moment behind the scenes, dealing with other critics and so on but he was a very steady and very sound head boy."
Storey was a rower and fully involved in school activities, and very popular.
"He was a tremendous strength and support for a new headmaster ... I've got a photo of the school prefects of 1989 in front of me right now and he's sitting in the front row - I'm just feeling very sad right now."
Storey had been voted into the position by staff and peers. "They were a widely talented lot but it seemed he was the most in touch with them all in a nice, calm, trustworthy way.
"That's really what made him the best choice as far as I was concerned - someone to hear what the troops were saying but also relay back what the headmaster was saying as well," Taylor said.
"It's totally tragic situation to die so far away from home like that - I just can't even imagine how Keith and Delysse will be coping."
Delysse Storey told the Herald earlier this week her son was "an incredible humanitarian".
"He was a wonderful, caring, amazing, humble man. He didn't have a partner or his children but he was a wonderful brother and all those things."
A historian, she spent 20 years on research about mothers whose sons fought in the Great War, many never to return.
"It's no different. It's a war we can't see but the consequences are still the same. I share this grief with every other mother, if not so many families who can't get the bodies of their loved ones, they can't have funerals."
Storey is to be cremated and his remains brought back to New Zealand when circumstances allow.
