The body of an esteemed doctor and AIDS researcher who went missing while competing in a 120-mile swimming race along the Hudson River has been found.
Dr. Charles van der Horst, 67, of North Carolina, disappeared on Friday while competing in the 8 Bridges Race in which long distance swimmers brave the Hudson River along its eight bridges.
The experienced swimmer vanished in the water around 3.10pm on Friday near the George Washington Bridge.
He was presumed dead by Monday and his body was finally found on Tuesday just before 10am, washed up on the shoreline of the Hudson near Dyckman St. in Inwood, according to the New York Daily News.
He was found wearing his swimsuit, swim cap, and a medical bracelet with his name on his wrist.
He was a prestigious doctor, internationally renown researcher and Democratic party donor who publicly endorsed Barack Obama for president.
The body of esteemed AIDS researcher Dr. Charles van der Horst, 67, was found washed up from the Hudson River in New York on Tuesday, four days after he went missing while competing in the swimming 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim Race
The experienced swimmer vanished in the water around 3.10pm on Friday near the George Washington Bridge. His body was finally found on Tuesday just before 10am, washed up on the shoreline of the Hudson near Dyckman St. in Inwood
The race was cancelled on Saturday in its seventh and final race, which was set to run from the George Washington Bridge to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.
Born in Hilversum, Netherlands, van der Horst emigrated to the U.S. with his family. His mother was a Holocaust survivor who met his father who worked as an interpreter during World War II.
He attended Duke University in North Carolina for college where he was captain of the varsity swim team and graduated in 1974. Then he went on to attend Harvard medical school graduating in 1979 then returned to his home state to teach University of North Carolina in the 1980's where he worked in the Division of Infectious Diseases at UNC Medical School.
It was there he spearheaded research that led or contributed to the development of effective AIDS treatments in the U.S., Malawi and South Africa and helped create protections for babies born to mothers with AIDS in the midst of the epidemic, according to The News & Observer.
Van der Horst was an experienced swimmer who said the sport was his passion that brought him peace and helped him cope with depression
The doctor was found Tuesday wearing his swimsuit, cap, and medical bracelet with his name. Pictured above training with a friend at a pool
'He spent many months in Africa — living there in South Africa and Malawi,
