Man Sued in Wife’s Death Dies of Crash Injuries

A Huntington Beach man involved in a highly publicized fight with his stepchildren over the $1.2-million estate of his late wife has died from injuries suffered in the crash of a light aircraft in northern San Diego County last week.

A Sharp Memorial Hospital spokesman said Kenneth Barwick, 38, died Thursday of severe head injuries and multiple fractures. His passenger, Gary Barni, 39, was in stable condition at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, a hospital spokesman said Saturday.

Barwick, who was piloting the small plane, and Barni were taking off from a small airstrip near Escondido when the Piper Warrior lost power and crashed. Barwick had a student pilot’s certificate, which did not allow him to carry passengers unless they were licensed instructors.

Not an Instructor

A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said Barni was not an instructor.

Newport Beach attorney Maurice Mandel, who once represented Barwick, said he talked with Barwick’s current attorney, Clement Jacomini of Long Beach, who said he will continue the legal probate battle between Barwick and his stepchildren to defend Barwick’s reputation. The case is scheduled to go to trial in Orange County Superior Court on July 11.

Nancy Barwick, whom Barwick married in Las Vegas in 1984, died following a boating accident in the Caribbean Sea in 1985. The ship that the couple was operating began sinking, and the Barwicks and the crew escaped to a lifeboat that capsized near the island of Aruba.

They all swam to the island, and Nancy Barwick, 50, collapsed on the beach. Aruba authorities listed her cause of death as a heart attack.

Barwick said he fought to save his wife. He claimed that his stepchildren were trying to deny his right to a portion of Nancy Barwick’s estate.

Body Order Exhumed

Last December, a judge ordered Nancy Barwick’s body exhumed. A Los Angeles County coroner’s autopsy showed no signs that she died from other than natural causes.

Lawyers for Nancy Barwick’s children said the findings did not hurt the their case.