A FORMER school friend of York tsunami victim Stephen Magson has paid tribute to him from his home in Hawaii.

Dr Ron Wagner-Wright, who is blind, learned of the tragedy after logging on to the Evening Press thisisyork website, which he is able to read using special software.

Mr Magson was watching his wife and daughter kayaking in the sea when the devastating tsunami swept the beach he was standing on.

Miraculously, both Denise and her daughter, India, survived after being lifted by the massive wave on to the top of a building as it engulfed Phi Phi Island, Thailand, on Boxing Day. They were later rescued from there, somehow escaping major injury.

But Mr Magson, 54, managing director of Sherburn-in-Elmet removals firm Bishops GS Ltd since 1996, has not been seen since, and is now feared dead.

Mr Wagner-Wright, who emigrated to the United States as a teenager after living in St Stephens Road, was his classmate at Acomb Secondary Modern School.

"We used to play soccer and cricket together on the playing fields and park just off Cornlands Road," he said.

"As we grew older in to our teenage years, we then began to hang out on a night outside the White Rose pub. I remember us eating fish and chips from the van that sold them outside the pub. In those days, there was a sense of community, kids are always naughty, but there were no drugs, alcohol, or much crime because everyone knew everyone else. Stephen was one of the nicest people you could meet. He was generous, pleasant, happy, confident, and would always help anyone. Because of the internet and technology of the 21st century, even I, who am completely blind, can still keep in touch with my roots thanks to the Evening Press.

"Unfortunately, in this case, it is with deep sadness through the loss of a schoolboy friendship."

Updated: 09:04 Thursday, January 13, 2005