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Memorial for Suzanne Hart to Remember Ad Exec Killed in Elevator Tragedy

By Patrick Hedlund | December 19, 2011 7:56am
Suzanne Hart, 41, an exec at Young & Rubicam, was killed in an elevator accident at the firm's offices at 285 Madison Ave. on Dec. 13, 2011.
Suzanne Hart, 41, an exec at Young & Rubicam, was killed in an elevator accident at the firm's offices at 285 Madison Ave. on Dec. 13, 2011.
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Facebook/Suzanne Hart

MANHATTAN — A memorial service for Suzanne Hart, the Young & Rubicam ad executive killed in an elevator accident last week, will be held Monday morning.

Hart, 41,  was crushed to death last Wednesday after an elevator at the high-powered ad firm’s Madison Avenue building shot upward as she was entering it, trapping her between floors.

Hart was remembered for her professional ambition and work ethic in an obituary published in The New York Times Monday that recounted her career path after first arriving in New York to work as printmaker.

She grew up in Ohio and suburban Illinois before moving to the Los Angeles area, and returned to Illinois to earn her degree in fine art and international relations at Knox College, according to the obituary.

Coworkers of Suzanne Hart console each other after she was killed in a freak elevator accident in her Madison Avenue office building, Dec. 14, 2011.
Coworkers of Suzanne Hart console each other after she was killed in a freak elevator accident in her Madison Avenue office building, Dec. 14, 2011.
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

She worked as a graphic artist in the New York ad world and also studied landscape design in her free time, spending hours working in the backyard of the Brooklyn Heights home she shared with her boyfriend, the obituary noted.

The memorial service is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at 300 Madison Ave., just a block from where the horrific accident happened last week.

Police said Hart was entering the elevator inside the building at 285 Madison Ave. at about 10 a.m. Wednesday. She tripped on the gap between the lift and lobby floor and tumbled forward.

That’s when the elevator unexpectedly lurched upward with its door still open, trapping Hart between the car and shaft wall between floors.

A law enforcement source said that the elevator that killed Hart was equipped with a safety mechanism that should have prevented the accident, but failed for some reason.

A repair company, Transel Elevator, had done electrical work on the lift only a day before the incident and returned to the site just hours before Hart’s death.

The company, which touts a roster of well-known clients, is being investigated in the wake of the tragedy and is currently being sued by another woman claiming she was injured during a similar incident.