A Galway-born publican has died while scaling a mountain in his adopted home of Colorado.
Mick Ward (57 ), a native of Eyrecourt, is understood to have suffered a heart attack while descending Kendall Mountain, one of the main peaks in Colorado’s Durango district, on Saturday.
Mick Ward is survived by his wife, Linda Ward, 49, and their two children, Brendan, 16, and Betsy, 12.
Mr Ward, who was a keen hiker, had lived in the US for many years with Linda, where the couple ran a succession of successful Irish bars.
Just last month Mr Ward was among a group of businessmen to launch a new bar, the Irish Embassy Pub, in Durango, where he had lived since 2000.
He grew up in Eyrecourt and he became an ironworker, specializing in working with steel beams for high-rise buildings in England and Germany.
According to the San Juan County Coroner, Mr Ward Ward suffered a heart attack resulting from arterial blockage.