Hughes passed away aged 59 after suffering a heart attack while out walking in Manhattan, New York last week (06Aug09) – and a host of stars, including Stein, Matthew Broderick and Vince Vaughn, turned out for his private memorial in Lake Forest, Illinois.
Stein, who played a teacher in 1986 comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, spoke at the moving service to pay tribute to his close friend.
The 64 year old called the ceremony “very touching” and admitted there was “a lot of crying” from the congregation.
He adds, “We’ll never see his like again. He was the Wordsworth of the suburban America post-war generation. He was a great, great, great genius and as much of a friend and a great family man as he was a poet.”.
Following the service, mourners gathered in a procession to a Lake Forest cemetery, where Hughes was to be laid to rest.
