Man dies after being found at cleaners

By Mark Boshnack
Staff Writer

February 29, 2008 04:00 am

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ONEONTA _ A 50-year-old Oneonta man was declared dead at A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital on Thursday morning.

He was brought in from an Oneonta Laundromat after a 911 report of an "unresponsive male" shortly before 8 a.m., Oneonta police said.

Kenneth Clark, 50, died of a heart attack, said Otsego County Coroner James Hurley. Since Clark had a history of heart disease, there will be no autopsy, Hurley said.

Clark was brought to the hospital by an Oneonta Fire Department ambulance after it was dispatched by Otsego County 911 at 7:56 a.m. to Clinton Plaza Laundry in General Clinton Plaza, Oneonta, police said. Clark was declared dead at 8:26 a.m., police said.

One of Clark's sisters, Kathy Underwood, of Mount Vision, said that her brother was "mentally retarded."

"He was a good kid," she said. "He would help anybody who needed it."

He was a "loner," she said. "He didn't depend on anybody."

She hadn't spoken with him in a couple of days, but generally they kept in regular touch, she said.

Although Oneonta police said he was living on Grand Street, she said that he had been living in a tent, though she was not sure of the location.

He had two other sisters living outside the area and had plans to visit the one living in Florida shortly, she said. He also had five children who were living with their mother and other relatives, she said. Clark was not married to the children's mother, and Underwood did not know how to reach them.

Laundry owner Philip Konstantine said he opened the business at 6:30 a.m. Thursday and left before Clark entered. He said he did not return until about 8:20 a.m., after Clark was taken by ambulance from the business.

Konstantine said he was contacted by his wife, who drove past on her way to work and saw the ambulances.

Konstantine knew Clark, who was not a customer.

"He was someone who would come in on a cold morning to warm up" who never bothered anyone, he said.

He said a customer who knew Clark had someone call 911 after she found him in the waiting area of the store.