A 36-year-old Waukesha father of four died Sunday after collapsing during the Milwaukee Lakefront Half Marathon, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
The office identified the runner as John Meise on Monday. He collapsed on the Hoan Bridge and was taken to Froedtert Hospital, where he died a short time later. The medical examiner said Meise had no previous medical history. No cause of death has been released.
A witness saw Meise go down shortly before 10 a.m., WISN reported. A fellow runner told the station that emergency crews were treating him near the 13-mile mark, less than 600 feet from the finish. A WISN weather camera showed first responders loading him onto a stretcher near the north end of the Hoan Bridge. The New York Post, citing local reports, said it was his first half marathon.
The race started at 7 a.m. at the Baird Center. Both the full marathon and the half marathon cross the Hoan Bridge. Organizers said about 6,000 people ran the two races. The event is a Boston Marathon qualifier.
Race organizers confirmed Sunday that a runner had been taken to the hospital and later died. In a statement, they offered condolences and thanked medical personnel, first responders, volunteers, and public safety partners. WISN reported that organizers said it was the first death in the race’s 44-year history.
Meise leaves his wife, Lauren, and four children: Mason, 11, Owen, 8, Lucy, 4, and Isla, 1, as reported by TMJ4. Lauren Meise told the station he was “the best dad in the world and he lived for his kids.” Family spokeswoman Stacy Horneck called him “literally the best Dad, and husband, and best to everyone in his world.”
His sister-in-law, Kristin Bennett of Waukesha, opened a GoFundMe for funeral and memorial costs and for the children. She wrote that a fellow runner stepped in immediately, and that EMTs and medical staff could not revive him. “If you knew John, you loved John,” Bennett wrote. “He had a way of making people feel welcomed, valued, and cared for.” By Tuesday morning, the page listed more than $83,000 from nearly 1,000 donors toward a $120,000 goal. The initial goal had been $70,000.
The medical examiner has not said when a cause of death will be determined.
