Pete Rosengren Batavia Illinois executive with Chicago’s Daily Herald and father of three dies saving kids from being carried out by rip current while vacationing in Florida.
A Chicago media area executive has died after rescuing children from a rip current in the Gulf of Mexico while on vacation in Florida this weekend, according to reports.
Pete Rosengren, a 42-year-old married father of three, and a sales executive with Chicago newspaper, the Daily Herald, went into the Gulf on Sunday to help his sons and a family friend’s 9-year-old boy as the child struggled to navigate the current, the Daily Herald reported.
Rosengren was able to pull the boy to safety but had to be rushed to an area hospital, where he could not be saved, WGN-TV reported.
Rosengren, who lived in Batavia with his family, worked as the Daily Herald Media Group’s vice president of sales and digital strategies according to his Linkldn profile. He was on vacation with his wife, Maura Rosengren and their three sons, Gavin, 14, Charlie, 12, and Grant, 7, along with three other families in the area of Miramar Beach, according to the Herald.
The Gulf was closed for swimming as a result of the severe water conditions, according to reports. Maura Rosengren told the Herald they had gotten to the beach only minutes earlier when the children ‘ran into the water right away.’
True hero
‘It all happened so fast. I ran toward the water,’ she said. She described how the 9-year-old boy was having a harder time than the other children returning to shore.
Told the woman via the Herald, ‘We could see one little boy couldn’t get in and … [Pete] went out there.’
Lifeguards performed CPR on Rosengren before medics transported him to a local hospital. A medical examiner will determine the cause of death.
Speaking to WGN-TV, Joe Shaker, Rosengren’s best friend, described Rosengren as a ‘true hero’.
‘The world needs more Petes putting others in front of themselves,’ he said.
Shaker described how Maura was ‘the love of his life.’
‘His three boys meant the world to him,’ Shaker said. ‘He was an avid coach, too. I would say he loved getting on the baseball field with his sons.’
‘Pete was always there for others…’
Monday would have been the couple’s 18th wedding anniversary.
Scott Stone, Daily Herald Media Group’s president and chief operating officer, told the Herald it was ‘no surprise his final minute was spent helping others.’
‘Pete was always there for others — employees, peers, family and friends. That was his DNA,’ Stone told the news site. ‘Pete had an oversized personality, quick wit, humor and unique compassion for others.’
The Herald has organized a GoFundMe page to benefit Maura Rosengren and the family. As of Wednesday afternoon, EST, the fundraiser had raised $91,591 raised of a $150,000 goal.
