NATION : Hostage Who Died Was Banker

KINGSTON, N.Y. —  The American hostage who died this week in Iraq was banker James L. Worthington Jr., his family disclosed.

Worthington, 53, a native of Marathon, Tex., died Monday, his daughter told the Daily Freeman of Kingston on Thursday.

“He was taken hostage in Kuwait and moved to Basra where he died of a heart attack,” said Maggie Jean Neilson, 27, of Woodstock. She said that information came from the State Department.

Earlier this week, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said the body of an American who died in the city of Basra would be turned over to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Worthington had been working as a consultant for the Alahi Bank of Kuwait and lived in the Hilton Hotel in Kuwait city, family members said. The State Department notified his wife, Katharine W. Worthington, of his death.