Arthur E. Aronson, a founding member of the Wheeling Park District, helped his community to build a new church, parks and schools.
Mr. Aronson, who moved to unincorporated Arlington Heights in 1950, was on the board of Northwest Suburban High School District 214 for more than two decades and served two terms as president.
He was also a founding member of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Prospect Heights, which opened in 1957.
“He had a deep appreciation of the past, but a real solid vision for the future,” said Rev. Paul Flesner, the pastor.
Mr. Aronson, 90, died of internal bleeding from a stomach tumor Monday, Jan. 5, in Alexian Brothers Medical Center’s hospice house in Schaumburg.
Born in Chicago, he grew up on the city’s South Side, where he graduated from high school. He received a degree from Augustana College in Rock Island and worked most of his career as an industrial engineer at A.B. Dick Co., an office-equipment manufacturer in Niles.
He met his wife, Ruth, in church, and the two married in 1943.
“Church remained the focal point of their lives,” said his son, Wayne. She died about 12 years ago, he said.
“Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s, there were so many things that didn’t exist in school systems that today we take for granted,” his son said. “Being at meetings four nights a week was part of their lives,” he said.
Other survivors include two daughters, Georgine Steinmiller and Carlene Otis; two brothers, John and Ralph; and five grandchildren.
Funeral services were held.
