Cook County Commissioner Dennis Deer died June 23 from complications following a double lung transplant.
Deer was born and raised on Chicago’s West Side. He was a psychologist and, since 2017, Cook County commissioner of the 2nd District, which covers parts of the South Side, North Lawndale and downtown Chicago.
Before running for commissioner, in 2003, Deer ran for alderman of the 24th Ward and received the third-most votes. He also served as a member of the Cook County Health Board and senior vice president of Lawndale Christian Legal Center.
Throughout his career, Deer advocated for justice system reform, plus treatment for substance use and mental health. In 2021, he declared mental health a public health crisis in Cook County, which led to the county funneling $60 million from that year’s American Rescue Plan Act into its budget for mental health.
“If we can show juveniles and young adults that they can identify fight-or-flight cues in their minds and bodies, we can help them improve their thoughts, words, actions and habits. That strengthens public safety for all of us,” the Lawndale Christian Legal Center quoted Deer in a statement.
“We can help them develop habits so they understand they can’t control others’ actions, but they can control their response.”
Deer led the resolution declaring racism a public health crisis in Cook County. In 2021, that led to Cook County Health hiring its first chief equity and inclusion officer, Shannon Andrews. He also declared gun violence a public health crisis, funneling $36 million in ARPA funds to programs that combat gun violence in Cook County.
“I was deeply saddened to hear of the untimely death of our friend, Dennis Deer,” said Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County Timothy C. Evans in a statement. “He was an advocate in the field of health care, education, economic development and housing, as well as for people reentering the community post-incarceration. He will be greatly missed. I send my condolences to his family, constituents and many friends.”
Deer is survived by his wife and high school sweetheart, Barbara, and three children. The family has requested privacy following his death.
Deer was born with situs inversus, a condition where the lungs and heart are located in the mirror image of where they usually are in the body. The condition, seen in 1 in 10,000 people, doesn’t typically require surgery, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
But Deer increasingly dealt with muscle inflammation and a disease that left his lungs scarred, which worsened when he contracted Covid in 2022.
After receiving a donor match and an 8-hour surgery last fall, his breathing troubles lifted.
But complications from the 2023 surgery were cited as the cause of his death.
In a statement, County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said she was devastated by Deer’s death.
“He was a fierce champion of equity in every space he entered,” Preckwinkle said. “I will miss him greatly.”
