Condo board denies link between pet policy and shareholder suicide

The condominium board at One Lincoln Plaza rushed to its defense today, after the New York Post ran a story that attributed a soap actor’s suicide to his struggle with the board over his dog.

The actor, Nick Santino, had claimed the board had harassed him and other dog owners in the building, eventually leading him to put the dog to sleep. Hours later he overdosed on pills and left a note where he mentioned he’d “betrayed his best friend.”

But Marilyn Fireman, a member of the condo board, told the Post today that Santino’s death “has nothing to do with the pet policy,” and accused the paper of just assuming the two were related.

The condo board outlaws Santino’s dog’s breed in the building, at 20 West 64th Street near Central Park West, but grandfathered Santino’s pet in, and forbids dogs from riding the main elevator and from being left alone in apartments for more than nine hours. [Post]