Obama Campaign Staffer Dies After Collapsing In Chicago Office
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A staffer at President Obama's re-election campaign headquarters in downtown Chicago collapsed and died Friday, campaign officials said.
Alex Okrent, 29, collapsed at the Chicago office headquarters this morning at Prudential Plaza and was later pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial. His parents say the Wesleyan graduate had a heart attack after working out.
Lynn Pollack says her son loved politics and life. He studied government, social theory, economics and history and was committed to the Democratic Party, she tells CBS 2 Suzanne Le Mignot.
Obama called Okrent's family to express his condolences.
"President Obama said he couldn't know how horrible we were feeling and that as a father of children he could not imagine what this loss must be like," Pollack said.
Okrent had been with Obama's political organization since 2004, according to a White House pool report.
The president later spoke with other campaign workers in a conference call, the pool report said.
