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It was during Stroger’s time at the helm of the county that the aged and outmoded Cook County Hospital was replaced by a new, modern facility nearby that bears John Stroger’s name.

Daley said he did not know where Stroger died or at what time.

Stroger is the namesake of the county’s public hospital, John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, which opened in 2002, replacing Cook County Hospital.

First elected to the County Board in 1970, Stroger championed the construction of a new public hospital for years. He made it the focus of his agenda after he was elected board president in 1994.

At the urging of Rev. Jesse Jackson, the County Board named the hospital in honor of Stroger before construction was completed.

“The greatest thing that can make me happy is that this hospital continue to serve the people who definitely need it,” Stroger said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony Dec. 11, 2002, the day before the hospital opened.

A native of Arkansas, Stroger moved to Chicago in 1953 and quickly got involved in local Democratic politics, joining Ralph Metcalfe’s 3rd Ward organization.

Stroger and his wife, Yonnie, married in 1959 and later moved south to the city’s 8th Ward. In 1968, Mayor Richard J. Daley made Stroger the ward’s first black Democratic committeeman.

At the time of his stroke, which occurred March 14, 2006, Stroger was the longest-serving member of the 80-member Cook County Democratic Central Committee.

Party loyalists rallied to his cause, and despite questions about his condition, the bedridden Stroger beat County Commissioner Forrest Claypool to secure the party’s nomination for a fourth term.

He retired July 31, 2006, and the County Board appointed Bobbie Steele to fulfill the last four months of his final term. Democratic Party leaders slated Todd Stroger for the November 2006 ballot, and he went on to win the office, beating Republican County Commissioner Tony Peraica.

In addition to his wife and son, Stroger is survived by a daughter, Yonnie Lynn, and two grandchildren. Another son, Hans, died in 1982.

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Stroger Worked His Way Up - Seeks to Be 1st Black President Of County Bd.
Chicago Sun-Times - Monday, January 31, 1994
Author: Lou Ortiz

EXCERPT

Early on, Stronger worked as an assistant city auditor for the old Chicago Municipal Court the year he arrived, then was personnel director at Cook County Jail before moving to a state agency.

He began his political career in 1968 when he was elected 8th Ward committeeman, a job he still holds. Two years later, he won election as county commissioner; he has been a member of the County Board for 23 years.

Before running for office, he married and earned a law degree from DePaul University in 1965.

Despite his loyalty to Democrats, party bosses refused to slate him in the 1978 primary for county assessor. In 1980, he lost a three-way race for Congress against U.S. Rep. Bennett Stewart and Harold Washington, who won.

Then tragedy struck in 1982. Stroger ‘s son Hans Stroger , 22, died of asthma shortly after graduating from college.

“You never think about burying one of your kids,” said Stroger . “You’re never the same. It is indescribable.”

Stroger said his son’s death made him more sensitive and compassionate.

But Palmer said Stroger has constantly turned his back on black politicians. In 1983, Stroger supported Richard Daley over Washington, who became the city’s first black mayor.

In 1992, Stroger backed the appointment as county commissioner of John Daley, the mayor’s brother, “when there was a chance to put another black on the County Board,” said Palmer, who is chairman of the Black Independent Political Organization.

“There are a lot of us out here who see him as the agent of the enemy,” said Palmer.

Stroger to resign as county chief: Son to run for job - John Daley will fill in as interim president
Chicago Sun-Times (IL) - Friday, June 30, 2006
Author: Fran Spielman, The Chicago Sun-Times
Under fire for the leadership vacuum in Cook County government, stroke-stricken John Stroger has decided to resign as county board president on July 31 rather than serve until the end of the year — paving the way for Mayor Daley ‘s brother to become Stroger ‘s interim replacement.

“This was a decision he made for the good of the county government, so that the county govenment could continue to operate without his presence,” said Ald. William Beavers (7th), confirming Thursday night Stroger ‘s intent to resign at the end of the month.

Under a complex deal, Beavers would be tapped to replace Stroger as a county commissioner.

Stroger ‘s original plan was to remain in office while his son, Ald. Todd Stroger (8th), replaced him on the November ticket to run for board president.

“I believe he will serve out his term,” Todd Stroger had told reporters earlier this week.

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County Board members reacted angrily to the contradictory declaration. They said they would refuse to go along with John Stroger ‘s plan to serve out his term in absentia — emboldened by a recent state’s attorney’s opinion that they have the authority to remove him from office.

“Something has to happen . . . Somebody’s got to be there making decisions,” said County Commissioner Gregg Goslin, who said the scenario was “getting insulting.”

On Thursday, Beavers, self-declared spokesman for the Stroger family, did an about-face. He called Democratic ward bosses whose support he needs to replace one Stroger with another on the November ballot to say that John Stroger has decided to resign as board president.

Stroger ‘s resignation as president on July 31 would not affect his seat on the board.

Either way, it paves the way for John Daley , the mayoral brother who chairs the County Board’s Finance Committee, to fill the leadership void temporarily and do the political dirty work of balancing the county budget.

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