John J. Sexton, 54, a lifelong Democratic Party volunteer and a superintendent in Chicago’s Water Department, died Wednesday, Jan. 28, of cancer in his Chicago home. Mr. Sexton knocked on doors and responded to constituent requests for virtually every neighborhood alderman since he was 16, rising to precinct captain. Mr. Sexton applied the same determination in his professional and personal life. In his first city job, he tested car emissions. At the Water Department, Mr. Sexton began as a machinist and retired in June 2003 as the superintendent of water meters. He married in 1972. “My girlfriends were jealous,” said his wife, Rosetta. Mr. Sexton eagerly did housework and repairs, and he never forgot a birthday or an anniversary, usually conspiring with his daughter for the right gift. “My daughter said growing up with him, she actually thought and believed that all men were like that and that they all did everything,” Rosetta Sexton said. Despite a diagnosis of throat cancer in 2001, Mr. Sexton continued to work while undergoing treatment and preparing his wife to assume his responsibilities. When doctors predicted he would never eat solid food again, he did. “After eight months, he started eating again–steaks, hamburgers,” his wife said. “If he wanted something, he was going to strive to get it. He was a fighter. He was never lazy, always pushing, pushing for something better.” Mr. Sexton also is survived by two daughters, Laurie Moran and Diana; a son, John Jr.; and a sister, Mary Kay Kuhter. Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday in Montclair-Lucania Funeral Home, 6901 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in St. Francis Borgia Catholic Church, 8033 W. Addison St., Chicago.
