Charles Suddards Stroh. Rest in peace.It appears he had consumed too many Suds last night.
Heir to Stroh's beer founder falls to his death in Grapevine07/10/2003
An heir to the founder of Stroh's beer fell to his death early Wednesday as he tried to climb out of his 10th-floor Grapevine hotel room.
Police said Charles Suddards Stroh, 43, fell after a rope he made out of bed linens slipped from a balcony railing as he tried to lower himself 90 feet to the ground.
Mr. Stroh was taken by helicopter ambulance to Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Employees at the Grapevine Embassy Suites hotel called police about 1 a.m. after Mr. Stroh repeatedly called the front desk. Two officers talked with Mr. Stroh for about a half-hour, and he promised to stop his calls and go to bed, officials said.
The officers reported that Mr. Stroh was intoxicated, Grapevine police Sgt. Bob Murphy said.
"Had he been out on the street in that condition, he would have gone to jail," Sgt. Murphy said. "But he was inside of his hotel room."
He said that Mr. Stroh was polite to the officers.
"He thanked the officers for talking to him and asked for their business cards," he said.
As the officers walked out of the hotel, they heard a yell and a thud and found Mr. Stroh outside the hotel.
Sgt. Murphy said police were investigating the case as an accidental death because "there was nothing suicidal" about Mr. Stroh's behavior.
Mr. Stroh did seem "rather paranoid," Sgt. Murphy said. "He felt sure someone was out to kill him.
He knew some information about a bank robbery, but [he said] he couldn't tell officers about it.
Some woman was supposed to be coming by his hotel room, and he didn't want the officers to be there."
The two Grapevine officers contacted police in Addison – where Mr. Stroh had lived in another hotel room – about whether they had come in contact with the man.
Addison authorities said calls involving Mr. Stroh were alcohol-related, Sgt. Murphy said.
Sgt. Murphy said William Penner, a representative of the Stroh family in Detroit, told Grapevine police that Mr. Stroh, who apparently had lived in hotels for the last decade, had had a drinking problem for several years.
Mr. Penner handled all of Mr. Stroh's financial matters, including reserving and paying in advance for his hotel rooms, Sgt. Murphy said.
"He told us over the last 10 years, he's been in and out of rehab ... and he could never seem to get dry and sober," Sgt. Murphy said.
Mr. Penner said Mr. Stroh was not married and had no children. He said he never worked in the family's brewery business, which was founded by Bernard Stroh in 1850 and sold to Pabst in 1999.
Mr. Penner said Charles Stroh moved to Texas at least 10 years ago.
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