Lori Healey, who stepped out and in of roles in the private and non-private sectors, attaining successes in each and serving to form Chicago, has died. She was 65.
Healey was chief of employees to Mayor Richard M. Daley; served as chief government of McPier, the company that operates McCormick Place; and most not too long ago oversaw improvement of the Obama Presidential Heart undertaking.
Healey died Saturday of pancreatic most cancers, her household mentioned in a press release.
“Our mom was somebody who was fiercely loyal not simply to us, however to her pals, mentees, and people who entrusted her to guide,” her household mentioned. “Her profession was crammed with extraordinary accomplishments that can assist outline her legacy. So many knew her as a transformative pressure in public service, metropolis planning, and civic improvement, however to us, her most significant function was as our mother.”
Along with serving as Daley’s chief of employees, Healey ran the 2016 Chicago Olympic bid committee and arranged the NATO and G-8 summits in Chicago in 2012. She additionally served as a commissioner of the town’s Division of Planning and Growth.
In a press release, Daley mentioned Healey was a “good chief” whose “tireless spirit” set her aside.
“From main civic developments to worldwide occasions, Lori’s readability of imaginative and prescient and present for collaboration made her a necessary pressure in our metropolis’s most necessary achievements,” Daley mentioned. “She was a lot greater than a colleague — she was like household. Her passing is a profound loss for me personally and for therefore many others in our nice metropolis who proceed to really feel the impression of her extraordinary life.”
Final month, Healey was honored with the Recreation Changer Award on the thirty seventh Annual Chicago Business Actual Property Awards. Valerie Jarrett, chief government of the Obama Basis, mentioned Healey may join with anybody in any room, from heads of state to younger folks.
John H. White/Solar-Occasions file
Throughout her time at McPier — quick for the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority — Healey oversaw the event and development of Wintrust Area and the Marriott Marquis Chicago, enhancing the McCormick Place conference heart house.
When she left that post in 2019, Gov. JB Pritzker credited Healey with making “necessary investments in good-paying jobs for our residents that can stand the check of time.
“Illinois is proud to be house to the continent’s most interesting conference heart — a title earned in no small half by means of Lori’s efforts these previous 4 years,” Pritzker mentioned.
Her subsequent function was at improvement and design-build agency Clayco as president of its Chicago regional enterprise unit, overseeing improvement, design and development within the larger Chicago space.
In 2020 she joined the Obama Basis to guide development and operations of the Obama Presidential Heart in Jackson Park as senior vp and government undertaking officer.
Final month, Healey was honored with the Game Changer Award on the thirty seventh Annual Chicago Business Actual Property Awards.
Valerie Jarrett, chief government of the Obama Basis, mentioned that Chicago is a greater place due to Healey’s work. Jarrett mentioned Healey may join with anybody in any room, from heads of state to younger folks.
“She enhanced the wonder and vitality of our neighborhoods whereas mentoring numerous younger folks,” Jarrett mentioned in a press release. “On the Obama Presidential Heart, Lori not solely oversaw the huge development effort on the South Facet, but additionally devoted herself to inspiring and mentoring younger girls in development, administration and public service. We’ll miss her for these many causes, however most of all, we’ll miss her devoted and radiant friendship.”
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza mentioned she was heartbroken by Healey’s passing.
“To say she was one of many very best, most superior folks I’ve ever met & had the respect to work with can be an understatement,” Mendoza said on X.
Dan Gibbons, CEO of the Metropolis Membership of Chicago, the place Healey was a board member, mentioned she leaves behind “a legacy of impression and management” that can proceed to encourage.
“Her generosity, brilliance, and unwavering dedication to our metropolis won’t ever be forgotten,” Gibbons mentioned in a press release.
Healey’s profession started in 1983 when she served as a coverage aide to former Gov. John Carlin of Kansas. She was a graduate of Kansas State College, the place she earned an undergraduate diploma in economics and a grasp’s in public administration.
“We’re heartbroken by this loss however comforted in figuring out that her legacy lives on within the numerous lives she touched — in her grandchildren, colleagues, pals, and the town she cherished a lot,” Healey’s household mentioned.
