29-year-old performer collapses, dies at Schaumburg hotel

Brett Anderson seemed to know everyone and everyone knew him.

The 29-year-old Schaumburg man who died Saturday after collapsing before a wedding he was scheduled to DJ was remembered Sunday as a funny, outgoing guy who truly cared about those he knew.

“He thrived on being with people,” said his longtime girlfriend, Dana Alcorn. “He always wanted to make people laugh or perform for them.”

Anderson was passionate about music, writing and comedy. He tended bar at Neighborhood Inn Bar and Grill in Hoffman Estates and also worked as a DJ for close to a decade — the job he was doing Saturday.

“He’s always been drawn to performing,” said Anderson’s mom, Laurie Lawshe. “He’s an entertainer. And he loved doing it.”

Anderson was setting up for a wedding at 4 p.m. at the Chicago Marriott in Schaumburg, 50 N. Martingale Road, when he collapsed, Lawshe said. He had a low-grade fever a couple days before the gig, but nothing anyone thought was life-threatening, according to his mom.

Anderson was pronounced dead on the scene, after two hotel guests — a paramedic and a nurse — as well as fire department personnel tried to revive him, according to Schaumburg Police Sgt. John Nebl.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office is awaiting toxicology results that could take up to eight weeks for a final ruling on the cause of death.

John Craig of Chicago grew up with Anderson in Hanover Park. The pair met in first grade when they lived about a block apart and remained close friends ever since.

“It was initially proximity and then similar interests that kept us together,” Craig said.

Craig joined Anderson and friend Jimmy Shay to perform in a sketch comedy troupe called Sausage. Craig said it was Anderson who did much of the writing and made sure everything went smoothly.

Lawshe called Anderson’s comedy work a hobby and a love because he didn’t make much money with it. But he enjoyed his DJ work as well.

“He took great pride in what he did,” Lawshe said. “He made people’s events special.”

Funeral services will be held at Michael’s Funeral Home in Schaumburg, but his family is still finalizing the details.