A Grateful Dead fan died after collapsing while dancing at Dead & Company’s homecoming shows at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park this past weekend.
According to a GoFundMe page started by his children, Fred Cothard “suddenly collapsed” at the concert. Jody Leddy, who attended the show with Cothard, added in a Facebook post that Cothard fell while they were dancing to “They Love Each Other.”
“I am blessed & honored to have been there with him every moment yesterday before, during & after his passing,” Leddy wrote. “I was holding him, talking to him about his kids, & kissing him until hours after the doctor pronounced him, until I got in touch with his daughter.”
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According to his obituary, Cothard was 54 at the time of his death and operated his own construction company. He also had a “deep love and passion for the Grateful Dead” and would travel “the country with family and friends from all over the world, to see the next show.”
Cothard’s children, twins Sadie and Sawyer, said the GoFundMe campaign is raising money to transport his remains back home to Michigan, as well as for funeral and memorial expenses and immediate household needs.
“Our dad brought Sawyer and I to our first Dead show in 2016, even as young children we were welcomed into the Dead family with open arms,” Sadie Cothard wrote. “May the four winds blow you safely home.”
As of publishing, the campaign has surpassed its goal of $25,000 with $36,581 raised. You can contribute to the GoFundMe here.
Dead & Company’s three-night stand at Golden Gate Park was in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s formation.
Content shared from consequence.net.