Man hit by car in middle of St. Louis Park street dies

A longtime educator with state government who was struck by a car near his home in St. Louis Park has died, according to authorities.

Funeral services were held Tuesday in Maple Grove for Richard Mesenburg, 72, who was hit by a car as he crossed a street on May 30 and died on June 25, according to the Hennepin County medical examiner's office.

The car, driven by Erik R. Springer, 21, of Golden Valley, was turning left from southbound Xenwood Avenue S. late in the afternoon and struck Mesenburg as he tried to cross W. 36th Street, according to police. Mesenburg was taken by ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

A witness told police that he was on his fourth-floor balcony and saw that Mesenburg was "not at a designated crosswalk when he was hit," a police report said.

Mesenburg spent 26 years as an administrator in the state Education Department following a career as a teacher, elementary and junior high school principal and assistant superintendent. He later worked in consulting, advising schools and universities in many states as well as in Sweden, the Netherlands and the Far East.

Paul Walsh