Newton fifth-grader dies skiing with family

Joseph Kelly Heilbron, 11, a student at the Peirce School, had been on a family vacation when he collapsed and died, said Jim Marini, the interim superintendent of schools.

Marini said the city’s crisis management team was activated, and students and teachers pulled together when they heard the news Monday after returning to school from the winter break.

“He was just a really special, neat kid,’’ said Ruth Chapman, interim principal at the Peirce School.

She said Joseph walked to school and was a big fan of the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots.

Chapman wrote a letter to parents Monday explaining that Joseph’s parents informed the school that the boy died while skiing late in the day Saturday.

On the last run down a hill, Chapman said, Joseph had been winning a race against his father, Ed Heilbron, and his brothers.

But when he reached the flat of the hill, Joseph’s “body gave out,’’ and he collapsed while his brothers skied beside him and his father followed, Chapman wrote.

Teachers met with fourth- and fifth-grade students about Joseph’s death Monday, and Marini said counselors will remain available to students at the school for an undetermined period.

In her letter to parents, Chapman wrote that the death of a child can affect other children in a variety of ways and that they may need reassurance that they are safe and the death of a child is “very, very rare.’’

“Even children with no apparent connection to Joseph can be left feeling scared and confused,’’ Chapman wrote.

In addition to his parents, Ed and Deirdre (Garrity) Heilbron, Joseph leaves his brothers, Ted, Robbie, John, Sam, and Phillip, and his grandmother, Joan M. Garrity of Rye, N.Y.

The funeral will be Friday at 10 a.m. in St. John the Evangelist Church at Glen Road and Washington Street in Wellesley.

Contributions in Joseph’s memory may be made to The Jimmy Fund, 10 Brookline Place West, Sixth Floor, Brookline MA 02445-7295.