Longtime NACo contributor, Cook County Commissioner Robert Steele dies at 55

Cook County Commissioner Robert Steele worked with county employees, NACo FSC to promote retirement savings 

Robert Steele, a commissioner and the president pro tempore of the Cook County, Ill. Board and former member of the NACo Board of Directors, died June 19 at the age of 55. He had recently suffered from pneumonia.

Steele served on the National Association of Black County Officials Board of Directors and was NABCO president from 2008–2010. He served on the NACo Board of Directors from 2012–2013 and ran for NACo second vice president in 2016, ultimately supporting San Diego County Commissioner Greg Cox.

“I believe that NACo is a catalyst for change where government leaders can advocate, with a collective voice, on national policies, exchange ideas and build leadership skills, all while pursuing cost-effective solutions to running county enterprises,” he wrote in his candidate statement at the time.

He had been a member of the Cook County Board since 2006, when he succeeded his mother, Bobbie, in her West Side Chicago seat. At the end of her tenure on the County Board, Bobbie Steele served as the first female Cook County president, following the incapacitation of NACo Past President John Stroger due to a stroke.

“NACo extends its deepest sympathies to the Steele family,” said NACo Executive Director Matt Chase. “Commissioner Steele was a gentleman and passionate leader for counties and people.”

Steele served on the NACo Financial Services Corporation Defined Contribution and Retirement Plan committee from 2006–2015, and was chairman for the last six of those years.

“What I loved about him was his common-sense approach,” said FSC Executive Chairman Bill Jasien. “We would have these lofty ideas from a corporate level and he would remind us that we had to relate to the front-line county workers we were trying to serve, we had to keep everything straight-forward enough that they didn’t feel like they had to be experts at investment to take advantage of these opportunities to save.”

Jasien said Steele would pop in on new-employee orientations when his schedule allowed, hammering home the need to save for retirement.

“It’s a powerful message, when you’re just starting out working for Cook County and a commissioner shows up and tells you to do something,” he said.

Jasien said Steele’s positive attitude, particularly in spite of heath problems that included amputation of both legs due to Type 2 diabetes and a 2010 kidney transplant from his sister, Joyce, reflected his personal motto, “be a part of the solution, not the problem.”

Contributions may be made in his memory to the Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network, www.giftofhope.org, or the Greater Westside Community Coalition,  3936 W. Roosevelt Road, Chicago, IL 60624.