Son of Utah radio host Doug Wright dies in D.C.

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A Salt Lake City man who died in Washington, D.C., early Saturday has been identified as Eric Wright, the son of longtime KSL radio personality Doug Wright.

The 22-year-old was found unresponsive in the northwest part of the city, in the 3700 block of Georgia Avenue, shortly before 2 a.m., said Washington, D.C., Metropolitan police Officer Paul Metcalf.

Wright was working as an intern with the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics, said his mother, D. Wright. She asked that questions be directed to Kirk Jowers, director of the institute.

Wright had gone up to the roof of the seven-story Park Place Apartments and apparently slipped and fell, Jowers said. The roof is an open area set up as a public gathering space and Wright was alone when he fell, Jowers said.

A group of Hinckley interns housed in the same building went up there a little bit later, Jowers said. Though police are investigating his death, the fall appears to have been accidental, he said.

Wright started his internship working in Utah Rep. Rob Bishop's office on Monday, and had planned to be there through the end of the semester in mid-December. His brother, Ian, also was working at a Hinckley Institute internship with the Republican Governors Association, and the two were looking forward to spending the semester together, Jowers said.

A senior at the University of Utah, Wright was studying to be a history teacher, so the pairing with former history teacher Bishop was "perfect," Jowers said.

Wright's application to the internship program stood out due to his dean's list academic record and interest in Washington, D.C. He had lived there twice, once as a congressional page in high school.

His father, Doug Wright, has hosted a popular show on KSL Newsradio for more than 30 years. The show airs from 9 a.m. to noon every weekday and carries a mix of entertainment, politics, news and talk.

Doug Wright has "done nothing but thank me for the opportunity we presented his sons here … but obviously, he's just beyond devastated," Jowers said.