(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Cook County Commissioner Dennis Deer, who represented Cook County’s 2nd District and served on the county board for seven years, died on Sunday night. He was 51.
If you attended a news conference featuring Deer, he always began his remarks by saying, “God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.”
The commissioner was not a minister, but he had a Phd. in Christian psychology and was a vice president of the Lawndale Christian Legal Center. He was relentlessly upbeat and worked in areas that included health care, education, re-entry, economic development and housing.
On WBBM’s “At Issue” program in 2022, he talked about his work with ex-offenders.
“It was always about causing generational change to take place, even for those individuals that I saw who had mental health conditions, who had anger management conditions, domestic violence issues, [and] violence issues — it was about helping them to change the trajectory,” he said.
In 2023, Deer had what was described as a “challenging but successful” double-lung transplant.
Deer’s family has asked for privacy, and in a statement they said they would share more details soon.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said she is “devastated” by the passing of her friend and colleague.
“He was a fierce champion of equity in every space he entered,” Preckwinkle said.
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