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Homeless Man Died of Pneumonia Near Six Corners, Officials Say

By Heather Cherone | December 12, 2014 4:01pm | Updated on December 15, 2014 8:42am
 Benches line Lamon Avenue near the former Bank of America building at Six Corners.
Benches line Lamon Avenue near the former Bank of America building at Six Corners.
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DNAinfo/Heather Cherone

PORTAGE PARK — A homeless man living on the streets of the Six Corners Shopping District died of pneumonia, authorities said Friday.

The 60-year-old man, who has not been identified, was found dead around 9:30 p.m. Dec. 8 near 4901 W. Irving Park Road, said Frank Shuftan, a spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner.

The man, whose family has not yet been notified by authorities of his death, may have been living along the western edge of the Portage Park shopping district since April, said Ed Bannon, the executive director of the Six Corners Business Association and a member of Hands to Help Ministries, which works to provide a safety net for homeless people on the Far Northwest Side and around Six Corners.

The Rev. Kara Wagner Scherer, a ministry board member and pastor of St. John’s Episcopal Church, where the ministry is based, said she was working to identify the man so his name can be included in a mass remembering those who have died while homeless set for 6 p.m. Thursday at Old St. Patrick's Church, 700 W. Adams St.

Wagner Scherer said it can be difficult to help mentally ill homeless men and women who do not want to find somewhere to live.

Hands to Help started eight years ago, when homelessness was a much bigger problem in Portage Park and Jefferson Park, after a homeless man died from exposure, Wagner Scherer said.

"We didn't want something like this happening again in our community," Wagner Scherer said, adding that she could not be sure the man was a client of the ministry.

The man living near the vacant Bank of America building at Irving Park Road and Lamon Avenue said he wanted to live outdoors, Bannon said.

The former bank building has been vacant since 2011. The future of the property has been in limbo for more than a year as the owner and Ald. John Arena (45th) debate whether the existing building can be saved along with a historic theater.

The man who died near Six Corners is the second homeless man to die on the far Northwest Side in recent months.

Joseph Kamen, 45, was beaten and strangled in October as part of a dispute over a cell phone, police said. Three men — who were also homeless — have been charged with his murder.

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