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December 27, 1996
Doe Fund will pay for burial

by David L. Lewis
The head of an advocate group for the homeless said yesterday that the organization will claim the body of an apparently homeless man found dead Christmas Day if the man's family can't be located.

George McDonald, head of The Doe Fund, said the group would pay for a "proper burial" so the still-unidentified man would not be interred in a mass grave in Potter's Field.

The man was found Wednesday morning on a sidewalk on Mulberry St. in downtown Manhattan. A spokeswoman for the city medical examiner's office said it would take until next week for tests to determine the cause of death.

The holiday tragedy occurred 11 years to the day after a nameless woman, dubbed Mama Doe, was found dead on a bench in Grand Central Terminal. Her death galvanized concern for the homeless and led to the creation of The Doe Fund.

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