Health condition, assault, suicide not likely in CFO's fall, official says

May 14--Steven E. Burke, the late chief financial officer and treasurer of The Grable Foundation, died by accidentally falling off an eight-story Downtown parking garage, Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Sonya Toler said Friday.

Burke -- whose family founded the Rubbermaid consumer products company -- was found Jan. 20 on the ground between Smithfield Liberty Parking Garage and the Hefren-Tillotson Building, near the intersection of Seventh and Liberty avenues and just around the corner from the foundation's offices. Burke, who was 61, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Nearly four months later, how or why Burke fell remains a mystery.

Burke routinely used the garage, and his car was parked on the fourth floor when he died, Toler said.

"He had a habit of going up to the roof to smoke in the area where he apparently fell from," said Toler, noting Burke took those smoke breaks beside a "low fence."

The police investigation turned up no evidence of a health issue -- such as a heart problem or intoxication -- contributing to the fall, Toler said. Police determined no one else was on the roof when Burke fell, she said -- though there is no camera footage of the fall itself.

"There was no evidence that he jumped," Toler said, "and there was no evidence that there was an assault that occurred that led him to fall off of the roof."

Police did not say who found Burke's body around 11:30 a.m. on the icy, windy morning of Jan. 20.

Pittsburgh police had declined to provide any details or facts of the case on Thursday, when the Tribune-Review reported the medical examiner had ruled Burke's death to be an accident.

The Grable Foundation is a Downtown-based grant-making organization with nearly $300 million in net assets. It focuses on helping youths become successful, independent and compassionate members of society.

Natasha Lindstrom is a Tribune-Review staff writer.

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