A New Jersey man, whose partner of 17 years was killed in the Sept. 11 attack in New York City, committed suicide on Friday, March 1, after struggling with his partner's death, according to a report by The Washington Blade.

According to gay activists, Mike Lyons? suicide is the first known by a gay partner of a Sept. 11 victim.

Lyons? partner John "Jack" Keohane, 41, was killed by falling debris when the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.

After the two planes hit the towers, Keohane who worked at One Liberty Plaza near the World Trade Center met Lyons, his partner of 17 years, on the street, and helped Lyons call his mother.

The pair was initially running together but Lyons lost sight of Keohane after fast-moving cloud of debris and dust billowed through the streets.

It was two days later that Lyons discovered that Keohane was the third body taken to the morgue on Tuesday after he went to a makeshift mortuary and demanded the list of the dead.

People who know Lyons? said that he had a difficult time coping with Keohane's death and did not have a strong support system.

"Mike's psyche was severely damaged because of the drama of seeing John die and being in the proximity of his death and being separated by him," said Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest Amercian gay political organisation.

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HRC was one of several organisations that helped Lyons apply for benefits through relief funds and gave him support.

"Mike at that time was very emotional and fragile -- even more so than the other people we dealt with... It was apparent that John Keohane was the rudder in his life. John was everything to him." Said Joe Tarver, communications director for Empire State Pride Agenda, a New York gay rights organisation that formed a relief fund for partners of gay victims.

Tarver added that the tragedy of Sept. 11 "has not ended for the families."

"Life is very short and it's obvious Mike didn't think it was worth living anymore without John," Tarver told the Blade.

"This is a situation where he didn't have the support network that many married couples had. It was obvious that he was trying to go searching got support. ? He didn't have the support like some of the other [gay partners]."

Gay activists say this is the first post-Sept. 11 suicide committed by a gay partner. The Washington Post reported Dec. 19 that Pat Flounders, whose husband died in the collapse of the second Trade Center tower, also committed suicide. Flounders was a breast cancer survivor who had recently had a pacemaker implanted.