An opening event yesterday evening at the Pacific Design Center was interrupted by apparent suicide. Theodore Edward Rowan, 72, was a resident of West Hollywood, says Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office.

Witnesses say Rowan fell to his death at approximately 5:30 p.m. in the midst of a grand opening of some kind at the Cesar Pelli-designed PDC campus.

“…A handful of us were hanging out on the second floor mezzanine just talking, we heard a huge thump, like someone had dropped a steel beam or something.” Sangeeta Varma told WeHoNews. The incident apparently took place in Center Green's rotunda.


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The West Hollywood division of the Sheriff's Department is investigating the case. The station has not released any other details at this point.

If Rowan's death is a suicide, it would not be the Pacific Design Center's first. Jon Furie, agent and owner of Montana Artists Agency, jumped to his death from the second floor of the public parking garage back in 2009.

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