Richard M. Kus, 62, was a pharmacist and a former trustee for the Village of Bartlett who helped shepherd the village through the growth and development that turned it from a small town of 700 people into a thriving community.
A longtime resident of Bartlett, Mr. Kus died Monday at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village.
Born in Sycamore, Mr. Kus was a graduate of Drake University. He was a U.S. Army veteran and served in Germany in the medics division for two years.
Mr. Kus owned Bartlett Pharmacy, the only pharmacy in town during the ’60s and ’70s.
“The village was very important to him,” said the former mayor of Bartlett, William Tiknis, who served during the same time as Mr. Kus.
Tiknis described the former trustee as a “by-the-book type of guy.”
Tiknis recalled that each trustee was assigned to a specific village department. Mr. Kus was the liaison to the police department and decided once to conduct an inspection of the police officers.
“He had the boys line up and he was there with his white glove,” said Tiknis. “He wanted his guys to act professional.”
As Bartlett began to grow, Mr. Kus and his fellow trustees approved and built the village’s first wastewater-treatment plant.
“We were a part of a lot of changes,” Tiknis said. “All we did is control the growth as best we could.”
Mr. Kus closed his pharmacy after 25 years of business.
He was a past president of the DuPage Pharmaceutical Association and a member of the Illinois Pharmaceutical Association.
He is survived by his sisters, Vivian Evans and Anne Marie Viktora. A mass will be said at 10 a.m. Friday in St. Peter Damian Catholic Church, 109 S. Crest St., Bartlett.
