Metro

Prominent French academic died in Manhattan hotel room of heart attack: coroner

The city’s coroner announced Wednesday that a prominent French academic found dead in his hotel room last month died from heart failure.

“He died of a heart attack,” said coroner’s spokeswoman Ellen Borakov.

“The actual wording on the death certificate says hypertensive heart disease. That means high blood pressure,” she said.

Richard Descoings, 53, headed the prestigious Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences-Po, and was in New York for a conference when he suddenly died, sparking huge interest in his native France.

He failed to show up for an event, prompting a search and the discovery of his naked body in his Manhattan hotel room on April 3.

Initially the coroner’s office said it expected to establish a cause of death within two weeks. However, the investigation took more than a month.

Police ruled out anything suspicious.