New Yorkwas a home away from home for Carlos Castro.

The popular Portuguese gossip columnistand gay activist would fly in for the city's star-studded Fashion Weeks and hadinstructed his family and friends that when he died, he wanted his ashesscattered in Manhattan.

In lateDecember, the 65-year-old writer flew in for what was supposed to be a romanticgetaway with his new lover, a chiseled male model nearly 45 years his junior.

The couple dined, took in a show and rang in the New Year at the Crossroads of theWorld.

But only a few days later, the idyllictrip turned tragic when police found Castro's mutilated body in his room at theInterContinental hotel and later took his lover, Renato Seabra, intocustody as a person of interest.

"He loved New York City," said Vicky Fernandes, a closefriend of Castro's. "He always said the city of his life was New York."

She and other friends described Castroon Saturday as a courageous champion of gay rights and an eccentric,multilingual scribe who had been the first to chronicle Lisbon's high society.

"He enjoyed good food and drinksand always had the right word at the right time," said Luis Pires, editor ofthe Portuguese newspaper Luso Americano, who had been friends with Castro for30 years. "He'd wear designer clothes like Louis Vuitton, neversuits, more like jeans and button-down shirts, Liberace-style."

Castro counted among his friends theformer president of Portugal MarioSoares and designer Ana Salazar, a fashion pioneer in his homeland.

"I was both in his best- andworst-dressed lists in the '80s," Salazar told The Associated Press.

Shesaid she was shocked by his death.

"It'slike something out of a horror movie," she added.

Armando Esteves Pereira, publisher of the Lisbon newspaper Correio da Manha, which ranhis daily gossip column, described Castro as "the inventor of our jetset." He told the Portuguese news agency Lusa that the prolific writer hadleft several columns that will run in the next few weeks.

Castro was born in Angola and moved to Portugal in 1975, after the former colony gainedindependence from Portugal.

Inhis teen years, his writing blossomed, earning him first place in renownedpoetry contests. Friends said he went on to pen several books and appear regularlyon television.

Inhis youth, he served openly as a gay soldier in the country's army, accordingto reports.

In Portugal, filmcritic and friend Rui Pedro Tendinha said he drew admirers for "revealingthe feminine side of his personality."

"Thisis shocking everyone in Portugal,"Fernandes said. "It's a great loss. It's not easy to understand. We don'tknow how this is possible."