An Ontario man declared missing almost 37 years ago and assumed dead has been found alive in the United States.

Ontario Provincial Police in Middlesex County said in September 1977 that Ronald Stan, 32 at the time, was reported missing following a barn fire in the former Township of East Williams, 35 kilometres west of London.

The OPP and the Ontario Office of the Fire Marshal investigated the fire.

In 1986, nearly nine years after Stan disappeared, he was declared dead by the courts.

But in July 2014, a routine audit of the case reopened the investigation into his disappearance, and found he was alive.

The OPP discovered that Stan, now 69 years old, had been living in the U.S. under the name Jeff Walton.

Police have contacted the families affected by the discovery.

U.S. authorities have also been notified.