And now for your local news.
It's sad -for me- I saw him all the time, he was like a statue -the pigeons were totally calm and cooing. What a way to go. It's kind of sad that the birds will go back and he won't be there.
'Pigeon man' struck, killed by van'
Tribune staff report - December 19, 2007
A Chicago man widely known as "the Pigeon Man of Lincoln Square" was struck and killed by a van Tuesday afternoon on the Far North Side.
Joseph Zeman, 77, whose love of and attentiveness toward pigeons was detailed in a 2004 Tribune article, was hit by a 1992 Chevrolet van at Devon Avenue and McCormick Road about 2:15 p.m., police said.
Zeman of the 2100 block of West Arthur Avenue was pronounced dead at 3:21 p.m. in St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
The van was "exiting a parking lot, made a right turn, did not see him and struck him," said Sgt. Antonio Baio of the Chicago police major accident investigation unit.
He said a laminated copy of the Tribune article was found with Zeman, and a witness recognized him.
Zeman used to sit for hours on a fire hydrant near Lawrence and Western Avenues with dozens of pigeons perched on his head, shoulders and legs.
"Soon as I take a seat, they want to be loved and kissed like a mama's baby," Zeman was quoted in the Tribune article. "Like I'm their father, and they're my child."
The driver of the van, a Chicago man, 68, was ticketed for striking a pedestrian in the roadway/failure to exercise due care, negligent driving and driving an unsafe vehicle, Baio said.