Obama campaign aide dies at campaign headquarters

Obama campaign aide dies at campaign headquarters

The Capitol Column | Natalie Littlefield | Sunday, July 15, 2012
Obama campaign member Alex Okrent died yesterday after falling ill at President Obama’s campaign headquarters at the Prudential Building in Chicago.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago paramedics were called at 10:36 a.m. after Mr. Okrent collapsed. He was given emergency treatment and then taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Mr. Okrent had worked for the Obama campaign since 2004 when Mr. Obama ran for the U.S. Senate in Illinois, and worked as a deputy field director in Cleveland for Mr. Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. During this election cycle, Mr. Okrent worked in the campaign’s paid media department,
which handles advertising for the 2012 campaign.

The 29-year-old lived in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb 12 miles north of downtown Chicago. He was a graduate of Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

President Obama, who was campaigning in southern Virginia at the time, called the family of Alex Okrent to offer his condolences. He also offered his sympathies in a phone conference with the campaign staff who worked side-by-side Mr. Okrent in Chicago.

Along with others, President Obama used Twitter to express his sympathy. “A beloved member of our campaign family, Alex Okrent, passed away today. Our prayers are with his loved ones. We will miss you, Alex. –bo” Mr. Obama tweeted on his campaign Twitter account.

Presumptive GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney also offered his condolences via Twitter, saying “Ann & I were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Alex Okrent. Prayers are with Alex’s loved ones and the entire Obama campaign team.”

“We will miss you, Alex,” tweeted Jeremy Bird, Obama’s National Field Director. “You left a beautiful legacy. We will never forget your spirit or your passion. Rest in peace, brother.”

Alex Okrent himself was an active Twitter-user. His Twitter headline read: “I am in earnest. I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard.”