He taught himself the piano. He became fluent in Chinese and had lived in China. And in the weeks before he died, he was learning Albanian so he could hold a conversation with his new wife’s grandmother.
Ian Alexander Kirkpatrick, a 37-year-old Huntington native, was one of four Americans killed Sept. 25 when an explosion leveled a building in the historic Plaka district of Athens, Greece. He had been married less than a month, Newsday reported.
Kirkpatrick died with his wife, Florida Hoxha Kirkpatrick, 34. Also killed in the blast were her brother, Florin Hoxha, 36, and his longtime partner, Eris Cani, 39, who was five months pregnant with the couple’s first child, a daughter, according to a Daily Mail report.
A Liturgy of the Word service for all four is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, at the Church of St. Patrick, located at 400 Main St. in Huntington.
Visitation is Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Yorktown Funeral Home, located at 945 East Main St. in Shrub Oak (Westchester County). Kirkpatrick will be laid to rest at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, according to his obituary.
Final day in Greece
The four were staying in a short-term Airbnb rental in a two-story building on Lysikratous Street, near the Acropolis, when the blast hit on the morning of Sept. 25, a Friday. The State Department confirmed the four Americans were killed in a gas explosion.
Both couples were set to depart Athens on a 3 p.m. flight home that day, a police source told Reuters, according to Fox News.
The blast sent rubble and shattered glass as far as three blocks away. An elderly couple who lived on the building’s second floor was also killed, bringing the death toll to six, Euronews reported.
Huntington steps up support for newlyweds
killed in Greece Airbnb blast
Athens Mayor Haris Doukas said the explosion was believed to have been caused by a major gas leak, the Associated Press reported. Rescuers recovered the six bodies from the rubble the day after the explosion. Greek authorities are still investigating its cause.
U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle said she was “deeply saddened” by the deaths, CBS News reported. She said the embassy was assisting the families.
‘A little bit of peace’
Klajd Hoxha, 31, the brother of Florida and Florin, told the Daily Mail that the family flew to Greece after the four failed to board their flight. He said they learned during the flight that two Americans had been confirmed dead.
The family is not looking to blame anyone, he said. “We just want a little bit of peace as to what has happened exactly,” he said.
A Long Island kid who went far
Kirkpatrick, born in Stony Brook, attended the College of William & Mary after high school.
He later lived and worked in China. After returning to New York, he built a career in financial services and regulatory compliance. Most recently he worked at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, or MUFG.
His mother, Suzanne Nelson, described him to Newsday as a “Renaissance man.”
His obituary describes a man who could not leave anything alone. He cooked seriously, gardened, restored furniture and collected antiques. He also restored his prewar Manhattan apartment and documented the project on Instagram as The Manhattan Parlor.
The Kirkpatricks joked that they were “antique ninjas.” He called her zemer, the Albanian word for heart. The obituary says he had two left feet, so he practiced his salsa for days before the wedding and then barely left the dance floor on the night itself.
The couple married on Long Island on Aug. 30, according to Newsday. They spent a week in Mexico, then went on to Greece and met up with Florin and Eris there.
Florida Hoxha grew up in the Bronx and was a senior attorney at the New York Legal Assistance Group, where she represented immigrants facing eviction, Greek City Times reported.
Florin Hoxha co-founded Prufrock Builders, a Westchester construction company, with his brother Klajd. Eris Cani was a clinical infectious diseases pharmacist and an assistant professor at Touro College of Pharmacy, the Daily Mail reported.
Kirkpatrick is survived by his mother, Suzanne; his stepfather, Rick; and his brothers, Keith and Colin. He was one of 15 cousins in a large, close-knit family.
“His life was much bigger than its ending,” his family wrote.
Top: Ian and Florida Fitzpatrick (inset, Facebook/Florida Hoxha Kirkpatrick) and firefighters work at the scene the day after the powerful blast in Athens’ Plaka district, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis).
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