A 41-year-old Oak Forest, Illinois, construction worker died after he was found unconscious Saturday morning inside Shepard Hall.

His death was likely due to a heart attack, said Steve Olson, a principal of W.B. Olson, the construction company that employed the man. The man who died was an assistant superintendent for the company and was in charge of the construction site that day, as the superintendent had taken the weekend off, Olson said.

The man was discovered unconscious in a field office on the second floor of the building by a colleague who called police at 10:19 a.m., said Gloria Graham, University Police assistant vice president and deputy chief of police. He had spoken with someone else in the building 30 minutes beforehand, Olson added.

When UP arrived at the scene, Evanston Fire Department officials were already treating the man. The fire department proceeded to take him to Evanston Hospital, 2650 Ridge Ave., Graham said.

“It’s tragic,” Olson said. “We went to the wake (Wednesday) night for him. He was a young man. This shouldn’t happen.”

The Cook County medical examiner’s office is in the process of determining an official cause of death, Graham said.

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