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SCMP Reporter

John F. Kennedy Jnr's sister-in-law spoke by phone to a Hong Kong friend just before boarding the fatal flight, it emerged yesterday.

 Lauren Bessette, who had hitched a ride with her sister Carolyn and her husband, chatted to Irene Chu.

 The pair, both graduates of the University of Pennsylvania, arranged to have lunch in New York, where Mrs Chu is staying.

 Mrs Chu's husband, Victor Chu Lap-lik, had employed Bessette at his investment company. Mr Chu said yesterday: 'Lauren and my wife talked on the phone on Friday afternoon and they were going to get together this week,' he said.

 'Lauren was telling my wife how she was going to Martha's Vineyard and they would get together when they got back. She was rushing off,' he said.

 Yesterday, authorities gave up hope of finding any survivors, almost 48 hours after the plane disappeared from radar on a flight from New Jersey to the island of Martha's Vineyard.

 Lauren Bessette, who at 34 was 18 months older than Carolyn, lived in Hong Kong for five years before leaving last year.

 She studied Putonghua at the University of Hong Kong before starting work in October 1992 with Victor Chu and Company in Tsim Sha Tsui.

 'She was a delightful person, a wonderful friend and colleague - highly intelligent, sophisticated and loyal,' Mr Chu said.

 'She had a great circle of friends here, was part of a very active social scene, knew a lot of people and was well liked. She would often join us for family lunches,' he said.

 'Everybody in the office liked her, her great gift was that she was good with people. She was also a very hard worker, dedicated to the job and doing long hours.'  The company said it would organise a suitable tribute.

 Bessette left in February 1994 for finance house Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, where she was vice-president of investment banking. She had worked for the firm in the United States as an analyst before taking an MBA at Wharton Business School in 1991.

 'She was an outstanding professional, admired by junior people and great to have around the office,' said Bessette's ex-boss Michael Berchtold, head of Asian investment banking.

 'She was doing all the right things, was promoted on a fast-track basis and when she decided to go back to New York it left a hole in the office,' he said.

 'All of us are quite shocked and saddened, and our thoughts go out to her family and friends. There are a lot of very, very sad people in our office today.'  He said her focus was China, with one of her major projects the initial public offering of China Eastern Airlines.

 Bessette lived in a large, old-style flat at the top of Magazine Gap Road before returning to Morgan Stanley's New York office in February last year when she was promoted to principal.

 Recently, she had been dating John Kennedy's cousin, Robert Shriver.

 Bessette, her twin sister Lisa and Carolyn had a comfortable, middle-class upbringing in Greenwich, Connecticut, where they lived with their teacher mother Anne and surgeon stepfather Richard Freeman.



HK friend tells of last call to Kennedy crash victim