John Lingner III, 51, of River Forest, a member of the Union League Club of Chicago who helped raise more than $6 million to upgrade three youth facilities in Chicago and a summer camp in Wisconsin, died from a blood infection Tuesday, Nov. 19, in Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center.
Last year, Mr. Lingner completed a three-year term as a board director at the Union League, a private club for business people. During his tenure, he rallied hundreds of members behind a multimillion-dollar fundraising campaign to improve three Boys and Girls Clubs facilities in Chicago and a Wisconsin summer camp for inner-city kids and teenagers, said Betsy Buckley, a Union League communications coordinator. More than 5,500 children benefit from the modernized facilities, she said.
After joining the league in 1988, Mr. Lingner chaired the public affairs committee for a year and the athletic committee for two years. He served as club secretary from 1995 to 1997.
Mr. Lingner became a partner with the law firm Kakacek and Lingner in 1995. He was born in Cleveland and graduated from the University of Chicago’s law school. He received a master’s degree in political philosophy from the University of Montana and a bachelor’s in political science from Colorado College. He also studied at the Free University of Berlin and the London School of Economics.
Survivors include his wife, Margaret McLaughlin; four sons, Timothy, John Edward, Christopher and Patrick; his mother, Fern Lingner; and a sister, Margaret Schweinfurth.
A memorial service will be held 5 p.m., Friday, in the Union League Club, 65 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago.
