Family Remembers Obama Staffer Who Died as Dedicated to Campaign
The father of a 29-year-old Obama campaign staffer who died after collapsing at the Chicago campaign offices Friday said his son was dedicated and passionate about progressive politics, and about Obama in particular.
“He was optimistic and enthusiastic,” spending countless hours on Obama’s campaigns since joining his U.S. Senate primary campaign as a volunteer in 2004, Mike Okrent said Saturday of his son Alexander.
Okrent of the 300 block of Dewey Avenue in Evanston was pronounced dead at 11:45 a.m. at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Larry Langford, a spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department, said paramedics were dispatched to The Prudential Building at 130 E. Randolph St. shortly before 11 a.m. after Okrent became unconscious.
Okrent had worked with the Obama team since 2004, campaign officials confirmed.
Traveling in Virginia on Friday, President Barack Obama called Okrent’s family to offer his condolences, officials said this evening.