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2 3 - 0 7 - 2 0 0 6 Award-winning bodybuilder dies in hotel
By Richard Byrne Reilly An award-winning bodybuilder from Rhode Island who arrived in Pittsburgh to compete in a bodybuilding tournament at Station Square died of an enlarged heart, authorities said Saturday.
Anthony D'Arezzo, of Warwick, collapsed in his room at the Sheraton Hotel at Station Square Friday night and was transported to Mercy Hospital, Uptown, where he died, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office said. An autopsy revealed he died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, known commonly as an enlarged heart. D'Arezzo, 44, had long suffered from heart complications, said Gary Udit, promoter of this weekend's bodybuilding competition at Station Square, which included teenagers, college students and masters. "The gentleman passed away. The problems had been going on for some time," Udit said. D'Arezzo was an accomplished bodybuilder who competed in national tournaments. He had a large and loyal client base at Gold's Gym in Providence, R.I., where he worked as a personal trainer, said colleague Dianna Prete, who had known him for years. "I saw him on Monday; he was doing a photo shoot at the gym," Prete said. "I was watching him. He looked great." He was a quiet, caring man who is survived by his sister and worked at Gold's Gym for the last 11 years, Prete said. "It's a terrible situation," Prete said. "Working out. Competitions. That's all he thought about." The medical examiner's office said an autopsy revealed that D'Arezzo's heart weighed three times its normal weight of about 300 grams. D'Arezzo's family was notified, and arrangements were being made to transfer his body to Rhode Island, the medical examiner's office said. A woman who answered D'Arezzo's cell phone Saturday said the family was too distraught to talk. D'Arezzo's Web site said he graduated from Boston University in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in health science. The Web site lists numerous awards for bodybuilding and power lifting. |
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