Gaydar founder's millions left to ex
A gay internet millionaire who plunged to his death from the balcony of his eighth-floor Battersea home has left his fortune to his ex-partner.
Gary Frisch, 38, co-founded Gaydar, the world's biggest gay online dating site, with his business partner and then-boyfriend Henry Badenhorst in 1999.
Mr Frisch, originally from South Africa, left an estate worth more than £6.5m and Mr Badenhorst is the main beneficiary from his will.
The couple, who split up several months before Mr Frisch's death, never entered into a civil partnership so Mr Badenhorst will have to pay inheritance tax of more than £2m.
Mr Frisch leapt from the balcony of his eighth-floor Battersea apartment, shouting 'wahey' before falling to his death on February 10.
Darren Morris, who was staying at his luxury flat in Commodore House, told an inquest that Mr Frisch had been acting strangely - waving his arms and shouting 'thank you Lord'.
Mr Frisch, who was described as a generous and popular man, had been seeing doctors and a clinical psychologist and was on medication.
Mr Frisch's mum died last August and it had affected him badly, Westminster coroner's court heard.
On February 9 he stayed in and ordered an Italian takeaway with Mr Morris, a man he had met a few weeks earlier.
Mr Morris said his friend was a bit depressed that night and stayed up late taking ketamine, drinking whiskey and saying strange things about God.
The next morning Mr Frisch wanted to go to Ikea and said to Mr Morris that they might as well take some more ketamine before they went.
They did so, just before Mr Frisch went on to the balcony, put his hands on the railing, somersaulted over the top and disappeared from view. As he fell he uttered a cry of exhilaration.
Coroner, Dr Paul Knapman, recorded a verdict of misadventure.
He said: "Mr Frisch had not yet reached 40, he was successful and popular but died as a result of drug use.
"This is not suicide at all, it is a man who was under the influence of drugs which had affected him in such a way that he probably did not know what was going on."
At the time of his death, QSoft Consulting, the company he founded with Mr Badenhorst, issued this statement saying: "Gary's legacy as a co-founder of the Gaydar phenomenon is immense and it is one that we shall both celebrate and continue into the future.
"Gary will never be forgotten and is deeply missed by us all."
