Medical examiner rules Tyree's death accidental

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Medical examiner rules Tyree's death accidental
The Associated Press
Posted March 22, 2011 at 10:52 a.m., updated March 22, 2011 at 11:14 a.m.

CHICAGO — CHICAGO (AP) - The death of Chicago businessman and Sun-Times Media Group executive James Tyree was an accident caused by an air embolism during removal of a dialysis catheter, the Cook County medical examiner ruled Friday.

Tyree, the 53-year-old CEO and chairman of Mesirow Financial, died Wednesday.

He had been diagnosed with stomach cancer last fall but was being treated at the University of Chicago Medical Center for the past three weeks for pneumonia and hoped to be released this week, said his former business partner Richard Price, who replaced Tyree as CEO and chairman after his death.

An air embolism is caused when air gets into the bloodstream and blocks the blood supply to organs; large embolisms are capable of blocking flow through the heart. The medical examiner's report listed pneumonia and metastatic stomach cancer as secondary causes of death.

The company initially told its employees that Tyree died of an unexpected complication from stomach cancer because that's what it believed at the time, Price said Thursday. He said the news that Tyree's death was an accident was a shock.

"I'm crushed, just crushed by this news," Price said. "It was already hard for his family and the family at Mesirow Financial to absorb his loss, but with this news, it's just terrible. I don't even have the words to describe it."

University of Chicago Medical Center spokesman John Easton did not answer questions about the medical examiner's findings. He issued a written statement saying "everyone at the Medical Center is deeply saddened by the death of James Tyree," calling him a visionary leader and saying the hospital was "grateful for his many contributions to the University of Chicago and to the Medical Center."

Tyree announced in October that he had stomach cancer and would undergo chemotherapy, which Price said he was still was doing at the time of his death.

Tyree also suffered from diabetes and had kidney and pancreas transplants in 2006 but had not undergone dialysis in the past, said Price, who described Tyree as his best friend for 30 years.

Price said that Tyree had been accepting visitors and participating in "lots of phone conversations with business associates" in recent days.

In 2009, Tyree led an investment group that took the Chicago Sun-Times' parent company, Sun-Times Media, out of bankruptcy.



Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/mar/22/medical-examiner-rules-tyrees-death-accidental/#ixzz1HOLQyry1
- vcstar.com