William L. Kaska, 83, who retired as president of the Chicago Electric Co. in 1985, died of heart failure Monday, March 18, in Rosewood Care Center in St. Charles. Mr. Kaska’s father started the electric motor repair company in 1910. Mr. Kaska, an engineer, worked for 40 years, but his priority was always his family, said son Robert. He enjoyed spending time with his wife and three children, sailing with them at their Wisconsin lake cottage. Mr. Kaska took engineering courses at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and at the Illinois Institute of Technology. During World War II, he was an air traffic controller in Milwaukee, where he obtained his pilot’s license. There he met his wife of 54 years, Janet Burden Kaska. The couple raised their children in Oak Park and retired to Florida in the late 1980s. They moved to St. Charles last year. Mr. Kaska is also survived by a daughter, Jane Trombley; another son, Charles Kaska; and five grandchildren. Visitation is scheduled from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday in Yurs Funeral Home, 405 E. Main St., St. Charles. A funeral service will begin at 10 a.m. Friday in the funeral home.
