By Michael Marley

The worst fear any parent can have about one of their children has been realized by legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum.

I have confirmed with an official from North Cascade National Park in Washington State that John B. Arum, 49 year old attorney son of Manny Pacquiao's handler, has been found dead on Storm King Mountain, a 8,115-foot peak within the national park.

Minutes ago, park spokeswomen Kerry Olson told me that John Arum's body was discovered by one of the helicopters searching near the mountain summit.

She said the family had been notified and that plans were being formulated to recover the body in area of loose rocks where helicopters are unable to land.

"We are making the recovery plan," Olson said. "Now it's about recovering his body. He was discovered through an aerial search at about 4:30 pm, PDT, and his body was at about the 7,700-foot level, about 300 feet away from his fanny pack had been discovered Thursday."

Friday was the fifth day that air and ground search parties sought to find Arum, whose 78 year old father has been on the scene and consulting with search organizers since Tuesday.

John was a specialist in environmental and tribal law and an accomplished mountain climber who was on a quest to climb the state's highest peaks..

It is believed that John, despite his real expertise in ascending mountains, slipped and fell somehow.

Earlier in the week, searchers first found his backpack on a clearly marked trail going up to the peak and then found his day or fanny pack.

It was the location where the latter was discovered that made the searchers think John had taken a serious fall either going up to or coming down from the summit.

Olson had informed me earlier on Friday that temperatures in the search area were a comfortable 60-plus degrees and that it was sunny.

Arum's family reported him missing on Monday. They had expected his return from his solo trip on Sunday.

His father, also an attorney in addition to being a Hall Of Fame promoter who has also promoted fights for such ring greats as Muhammad Ali, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran, ran an Antonio Margarito-Pacman press conference in Beverly Hills Tuesday afternoon even though he had been informed his son was missing.

Arum and current wife Lovee then flew to Seattle to get involved in the hunt.

I've known the irascible Arum for 40 years and once met John when he was a teenager attending an Ali-Joe Bugner fight in Las Vegas.

My condolences go out to the entire Arum family.

His fame and his fortune certainly do not cushion this powerful emotional blow for a man who was extremely proud of his first born child.

Body of Missing Climber Found

Marblemount, WA— The body of missing climber John Arum, was found on the north slope of Storm King Mountain by National Park Service rangers. They were conducting an aerial search along the “fall line” below the location where his waist pack was found yesterday. While previous flights had been made in this area, recent snow melt made it possible to locate his body late this afternoon. This location was approximately 300 feet below where the waist pack was found. National Park Rescue personnel are in the process of evaluating recovery options which are complicated due to steep, technical and unstable terrain.

The 49-year old mountaineer was reported missing Monday, August 30 after planning to solo climb Storm King Mountain on Saturday, August 28. Fifty personnel from the National Park Service, Chelan Mountain Rescue, Stehekin Community and the King County Sheriff’s Office conducted ground and aerial searches over steep and difficult terrain covering a 1500-acre search area.

A backpack belonging to Arum was found Wednesday by a ground search team at 7400-foot elevation directly below Storm King Mountain’s 8500-foot summit.

A waist pack belonging to Arum was found by an aerial search team on Thursday at 8000-foot elevation.