THE family of late actor Heath Ledger have remembered their son in an emotional death notice in an Australian newspaper.

The West Australian published the notice on Friday, days after the film star was found dead in his New York apartment (on Tuesday, January 22, 2008).

Part of it read: “We have been privileged to accompany you on a ride through life that has simply been amazing and through it all we have loved each other beyond imagination. Our hearts are broken.”

It added: “You dreamed your dreams and lived them with passion and intelligent commitment.”

In a separate tribute, Ledger’s father, Kim, wrote: “Heatho, Beef, my beautiful boy, so loving, so talented, so independent … so no more chess games mate … this is it, couldn’t beat you anyway. We were one, in soul and commitment, just father and son.”

And his sister, Kate, said that they were “ultimate soulmates” and that she viewed him as “just my little brother”.

According to the Australian newspaper Ledger’s family are now flying to the US to collect their son’s body and police have set up barricades outside a funeral home in New York ahead of a private viewing.

A public memorial service may also be held in Los Angeles to commemorate the star, according to Australia’s foreign minister Stephen Smith, although no details of what that involved were given away. Any tributes in Australia would be determined by Ledger’s family, he added.

The emotional death notice follows a week of tributes to the star of films such as Brokeback Mountain and I’m Not There from friends, relative, colleagues and film companies.

b>Film company puts last Ledger film on hold

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