'The strongest man I have ever known': Girlfriend of Matthew Badger, the dad who lost all three daughters in tragic Christmas Day fire in 2011, remembers the loving father in touching tribute

• e-mail

Abby Ballin (left) has spoken movingly about her boyfriend, Matthew Badger (right), who died on February 9, and whose children were killed in a fire on Christmas Day in 2011

The girlfriend of Matthew Badger, who lost all three of his daughters in a fire at his ex-wife's house on Christmas Day in 2011, and tragically passed away earlier this month, has paid tribute to the artist.

Badger, 51, died of natural causes - the details of which have not been released - on February 9. His story made national news when his daughters, Lily, Sarah and Grace, died in a Connecticut house fire.

Speaking to PEOPLE, his girlfriend Abby Ballin - whom he was seeing up until his death - said: 'He was and will forever be the strongest man I have ever known. A fighter till the end. I’m just so happy he doesn’t have to fight anymore.

'He is free.' 

Ballin was seeing Badger when his daughters - nine-year-old Lily and seven-year-old twins Sarah and Grace - died in a fire at the home of their mom, Madonna Badger, and her then-boyfriend Michael Borcina.

Ballin was with Badger when he received the horrific news. 

And though he carried on despite the loss - opening up dyslexia charity the LilySarahGrace Fund with Ballin in April 2012 - he was forever haunted.

'On December 21, 2016, almost five years to the day of the last time we saw the girls, Matt texted me from Maine, "Dark day? The darkest of the year. Tomorrow the sun will begin to take back the night…until, one day, the day will come when?"' she said.

'I keep coming back to these words. He was speaking of winter solstice, but we both knew he was speaking of so much more.'

Ballin described Badger (pictured with daughters Lily, Sarah and Grace) as 'the strongest man I have ever known', and a 'true artist'. She says he is now 'with the girls'

This was the last photo ever taken of Matthew and his girls together before they died in a house fire in Connecticut. Ballin said she is glad Matthew 'doesn't have to fight any more'

Now, Ballin says, Badger - a 'true artist - although you would never hear him say that' has been reunited with his daughters.

'Every time I close my eyes I see him dancing his wild, chaotic, glee-filled dance and I know he is with the girls,' Ballin said. 

'They are all dancing… swirling in the love that all who mourn are sending to them.' 

Badger's family have not said how he died, only that it came quickly and without pain. 

His ex-wife Madonna Badger said in a statement on his death: 'He was a wonderful man with a generous heart. He was an amazing Dad to his girls, Lily, Sarah and Grace. His death was sudden and peaceful.

'He is with his children and his parents and his brother, Mark. Please send him light and love. My heart is broken but also joyous that they are together.' 

Badger's three daughters were killed when a fire tore through the  mansion of their mother, Madonna Badger, on Christmas Day in 2011

Matthew's ex-wife Madonna Badger took to Facebook saying the father-of-three's death was sudden and peaceful

A person close to the family told the Hartford Courant that he died of natural causes but would not reveal the exact cause of death. 

Badger previously said in interviews that his brother and father both died of heart attacks. 

He also admitted to being an on-and-off-again chain smoker in the years after his daughters' deaths. 

Badger was living in a two bedroom rental with Ballin in New York's Battery Park City before he died.

Richard Cambria, executive director of the charity, told the New York Post that Matthew died surrounded by family members.

Badger was in New York when the fire broke out in 2011 at his ex-wife's home in Stamford, Connecticut where his daughters were spending Christmas Day.

Matthew (left), his girlfriend Abby Ballin (center) and Madonna Badger (right) were visibly distressed at the funeral of Lily, Sarah and Grace in New York

The girls and Madonna's parents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson, all perished in the horrific blaze. Madonna and Borcina both survived.

Authorities said embers in a bag of discarded fireplace ashes started the blaze. They had been discarded by Borcina because the girls were worried Santa wouldn't be able to get down the chimney. 

Badger said in a 2012 interview that the loss of his little girls had devastated him.

'It ended my life,' he told People magazine. 'I'm a father... I wasn't there to save them.

'If I don't cry every day, the waves are bigger,' he said. 'If I cry every day, it is less dramatic. I don't think the loss is ever going away.'  

Badger added that he was especially troubled when he thought of the girls suffering in their last moments as they dashed through the home, looking for an escape route.

Madonna and her then-boyfriend Michael Borcina (pictured with his hand on her shoulder) were the only two to survive the blaze. Matthew (left) later filed an unlawful death suit against Borcina whose business was behind the renovations on the home that caught fire 

Firefighters arrived on the scene just six minutes after neighbors reported the fire, but they were unable to save those trapped.

Two of the girls were found on the second floor; their other sister died just feet from escaping through a window.

No criminal charges were filed as a result of the deaths. 

A year after the fire, Badger told Katie Couric that he had contemplated suicide after losing his daughters. 

'I wanted to go and be a parent to my girls wherever they went,' he said.  

Fire and city officials said at the time of the fire that the house - which was under renovation by Borcina - should not have been occupied and the fire alarms weren't activated.

Badger later filed a wrongful death against the city and Borcina, claiming the house had become a fire trap.

Borcina and his company settled the lawsuit in 2014 for $5 million. 

Matthew said in an interview in 2012 that the death of his daughters had ended his life and he was especially troubled when he though of the girls suffering in their last moments

Firefighters arrived on the scene just six minutes after neighbors reported the fire at Madonna's mansion, but they were unable to save those trapped inside

Unable to return to his job as television commercial director following the fire, Badger created the charity in the girls' memories with Ballin.

'We are deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of Matthew Badger,' the LilySarahGrace Fund said in a statement on Thursday.

'When LSG first started, it was to honor the lives and memories of Matthew's daughters. While our hearts are broken, we are honored and committed to carrying on Matthew's legacy.'  

Ballin's brother Joey Pedone posted an emotional tribute on Facebook on Thursday saying he wished he could have met him under different circumstances.

'I would have loved to see you and my sister together as a couple prior to the horrible event that forever changed you two. There's no doubt in my mind that you were an absolute clever, sarcastic, charismatic man full of life,' Pedone wrote.

'Thank you for the love you brought into her life... thank you for sharing yourself with my family. Even through the dark shadow that was cast over you I could see the man she fell in love with. We will all miss you and keep you and your girls memory alive.'  

Badger, who had dyslexia, was an advocate for the learning difficulty throughout his life. Grace and Lily also had dyslexia. 

Groups and advocates for the disability mourned Badger's death on Thursday, saying they hoped his legacy would last long after his death.

The brother of Matthew's girlfriend, Abby Ballin, posted an emotional tribute on Facebook saying he wished they had met before the horrible fire that changed him