Thursday, December 28, 2006

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

An elderly woman who spent early mornings shuttling between her Squirrel Hill apartment and the Jewish Community Center for exercise died yesterday after a car struck her as she was going home.

Estelle Forstenzer, 83, of the 5800 block of Forward Avenue, died at UPMC Presbyterian at 1:44 p.m., hours after she was hit by a vehicle at Murray Avenue and Bartlett Street.

Neighbors said she would leave every morning around 6 a.m. to head to the Jewish Community Center to either walk or swim. She would then head home after an hourlong workout.

Neighbors said she spoke with a German accent and was incredibly active.

“She was always running somewhere,” said Thelma Finklestein, her next-door neighbor. “She would just have enough time to say hello and goodbye and then she would be gone.”

Police did not identify the driver of the car or describe the kind of vehicle that was involved in the accident.

The driver was not injured, police said.

Detectives from the homicide squad and the accident investigations unit were investigating.

Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki was expected to have more information on the accident today.

An autopsy was scheduled for today.