BEREA, Ohio -- Chuck Fisher, the assistant public relations director of the Cleveland Browns, was killed early Saturday when the car he was driving was struck by a freight train.
Fisher, 34, apparently was en route to his Strongsville, Ohio, home when he tried to cross railroad tracks at the intersection of Route 237 and Snow Road when his car was struck broadside by the train between 2 and 3 a.m. EDT, a Browns spokesman said.
Fisher was taken to Southwest Hospital in Berea, where he was pronounced dead.
Kevin Byrne, the vice president of public relations for the Browns, said Fisher had been having dinner with his parents earlier in the evening and then went to visit friends before returning home to prepare for a morning flight to Chicago, where the Browns open the season Sunday.
Fisher joined the Browns in 1981 as an intern from the sports administration program at Ohio University. He soon was hired full-time as Byrne's assistant.
Cleveland owner Art Modell, whose team is still reeling from the death of free safety Don Rogers in June, said he was shocked.
'This is a terrible blow to all of us,' Modell said. 'Chuck was so much a part of our everyday activities. What a tragedy.
'He was an excellent worker. We had no one prouder to be a member of the Cleveland Browns family. His dedication, hard work and his loyalty cannot be replaced.'
Fisher is survived by his wife, Jamie, and children -- 3-year-old triplets Charles, Ryan and Bret, and a 1-year-old daughter, Erin.
Funeral plans were not complete.
