Former museum executive to thief: Give back my parents' ashes

New York: A politically connected former museum executive says the person who stole his SUV can keep rare collectibles that were inside it - but he wants the urns holding his parents' cremated remains.

Bill White, chairman and CEO of Constellations Group and former chief executive of New York's Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum , tells The New York Times that his vehicle was stolen after he parked in Manhattan around 2 a.m. on Nov. 2. It was empty when police found it two days later in Brooklyn.

White said he had hoped to place the urns under a memorial bench in Point Lookout, New York, where his parents had lived, The New York Times reported.

The other stolen items included a fur coat that was a gift from the Onassis family and a 1977 New York Yankees World Series ring, a gift from George Steinbrenner, inscribed "To my friend, Bill White."

White is well-known in social and political circles. He hosted a star-studded fundraiser with President Barack Obama at his home in 2014. When The Times spoke to him Tuesday night, he was at Hillary Clinton's presidential election-night gathering at the Javits Convention Center.

In discussing the theft, he said he had loaded the property into his vehicle to take to his office later that day. White said he felt safe because the items were covered and the SUV had tinted windows; the urns were in the trunk.

"I'm in a state of depression over it," he said, adding that he won't press charges if the urns are returned.

"I'm just trying to get my parents back," he said. "The other stuff, you can live without.”