Dad Whose 3 Daughters Died in Christmas Fire Dead at 51

The 51-year-old father of three girls who perished in a 2011 Christmas Day house fire in Connecticut has died, according to the foundation he started in memory of his daughters. Matthew Badger's death was announced Thursday on the Facebook page of the Lily Sarah Grace Fund, an organization that works to bring the arts to underfunded public elementary schools, the AP reports. Robert Cambria, the fund's executive director, said he was notified of Badger's death Thursday morning, but was not given any other details. The 2011 fire at a Victorian home in Stamford owned by the children's mother, New York advertising executive Madonna Badger, killed 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah Badger, 9-year-old Lily Badger, and their maternal grandparents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson, formerly of Louisville, Kentucky. Madonna Badger and her boyfriend at the time, Michael Borcina, escaped the flames.

Borcina, a contractor, had been renovating the house. Authorities said the fire began in the fireplace ashes, which were left in a bin in the mudroom in the house. Borcina originally told authorities he put ashes in the room, but later said the ashes had been left in the room by the girls' mother. He agreed to pay Mathew Badger $5 million to settle a lawsuit. Matthew Badger also had lawsuits pending against the city, subcontractors and their insurance carriers. (More Madonna Badger stories.)