As Lester Brownstein was preparing to leave his Morton Grove home Monday night to attend a Niles Township Board of Trustees meeting, he noticed an attempted burglary in his neighborhood and stopped to call police.
“He was worried enough about his neighbor to call,” said his daughter, Barbara Lahtinen. “But that is exactly the type of person he was. He always wanted to help people. Later that evening there were two messages from this family thanking him for keeping his eyes open and helping them out.”
But Mr. Brownstein, 84, a Niles Township trustee since 1999, never heard the messages.
He collapsed Monday, Dec. 5, shortly after he arrived at the Niles Township Government Center in Skokie for the board meeting. He was taken to Rush North Shore Medical Center in Skokie, where he died.
For most of his life, Mr. Brownstein was involved in politics and causes, said friends and family. If he saw an injustice he tried to correct it and if he saw a problem he tried to find a solution, said Morton Grove Mayor Rick Krier.
“There are a lot of people who complain about things and don’t get involved,” Krier said. “But Lester always did get involved. … Lester was always trying to be part of the solution.”
With Krier, Mr. Brownstein formed the Caucus Party, a coalition of Democrats, Republicans and independents in Morton Grove. Although at different points in his life he was a Democrat or Republican, Mr. Brownstein was fiercely independent.
“I remember he was a Democratic precinct captain and active in politics all along,” said his daughter. “When John F. Kennedy was running [for president, Mr. Brownstein] helped organize his parade and events downtown. But he wound up becoming Republican and then was a big supporter of the Caucus Party.”
Mr. Brownstein was a former code enforcement officer for Morton Grove, and in 1993 was appointed to the position of Niles Township collector, a post he held until he was elected township trustee in 1999. At the time of his death, he was the director of Township Officials of the Cook County Trustees Division.
Mr. Brownstein was on the Morton Grove Traffic Safety Committee and started the SeniorTran Transportation System in the township.
At the township level, senior citizens were a special concern for him, said Carol Fritzshall, clerk of the village of Morton Grove and Niles Township administrator.
“He was here frequently and was a hands-on person,” Fritzshall said. “He was always very concerned about the seniors and always visited the senior groups in Morton Grove to officially hand them their grant. He was very much in tune with all the seniors and loved them, in fact.
“He was a character. He was always fun. He loved life and he loved a good party and delighted in meeting people and being with people. We are all a bit in shock over this.”
Born in Chicago, Mr. Brownstein joined the Army after he graduated from Senn High School. He served in the South Pacific during World War II.
In 1947, he married his first wife, Marjorie Schuman, but the couple divorced in the early 1960s. In 1964 he married Hollis Rizer. She died in 2004.
Mr. Brownstein once was a vice president for sales at Atlas Steel Corp. in Chicago. In the late 1950s he started a steel distributorship, Fox Steel, in Chicago. He closed it a few years later and went to work for the Illinois secretary of state’s office as manager of the Melrose Park drivers services facility and then as assistant manager of the Niles facility. He retired in the late 1990s.
“He was a doer,” Krier said. “He was always out there to help other people.”
Other survivors include three sons, Steven Louis, Steven David, and Dennis Jay, and seven grandchildren.
Services will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday in Piser Chapel, 9200 Skokie Blvd., Skokie.
