John Lanigan

John J. Lanigan, former Illinois State Senator and CEO of Olympic Federal, died at 79. As a Republican State Senator (1965-71), known in the Illinois General Assembly as "Jack," Lanigan was a young, hard-working, and assertive Senator from the southwest side of Chicago whose principal areas of interest were education reform and fiscal responsibility. During his tenure, he spearheaded investigations revealing serious defects in Chicago schools and city meat inspections that were widely publicized as lead stories in Chicago newspapers. As a committee chair charged with examining the future needs of Chicago school children Lanigan pushed for an elected Chicago Board of Education. Lanigan also passed an amendment to the school code prohibiting the Chicago Board of Education from assigning pupils to schools outside of their local districts without written parental consent. When the Supreme Court ruled against prayer in public schools, Lanigan proposed and enacted into law statutory authority for students to proceed with silent prayers in the classroom. He received national recognition for the passage. Lanigan's law was upheld in the courts and it, or similar laws are in place in many states. Moreover, Lanigan's leadership in the senate on the Pension Committee resulted in pensions not being taxed for Illinois residents, which retirees continue to enjoy today. Born and raised in a blue-collar environment, Lanigan never forgot his roots and the need for government to be accountable. He served on numerous legislative committees to oversee the spending of taxpayer funds. State agencies knew they had a fight on their hands if "that young" Senator Lanigan started digging into their spending or questioning their requests for future reserves. In addition to the State Senate, Lanigan served as Illinois Savings and Loan Commissioner, Chairman of the Illinois State Board of Elections, and Illinois Inspector General. During the 1990s, as CEO of Illinois-based, billion-dollar Olympic Federal Savings and Loan, Lanigan sued to stop the closing of Olympic by federal regulators. He charged that regulations passed in response to the 1980's savings and loan crisis would destroy well-managed institutions. Olympic Federal could not satisfy new capital requirements solely because it agreed to help regulators by merging with failing S&Ls that the government did not want to close and shift losses to taxpayers. National media reported that Lanigan's lawsuit threw the government's entire thrift bailout plan into question when it caused the top regulator to resign and led to a temporary injunction barring the takeover of Olympic. His efforts were supported in a number of editorial pieces published nationally and in local Chicago papers, several of which recognized him in 1990 as a business person that made a difference. Lanigan, a longtime member of Chicago's Union League Club, served as a staff sergeant in the United States Air Force, and was a graduate of DePaul University. John J. Lanigan is the son of the late John and Nellie Lanigan; loving father to Mary, Kevin, and the late John Jr.; and, devoted brother of Kathleen Lanigan. He is the fond uncle to Joseph Kaiker Jr; Karen (Roy) Young and Kathy (Ralph) Vargas; and, great uncle to Ryan Kaiker. As a proud first generation Irish-American, he regularly visited Ireland. While he enjoyed his travels to the homeland of his parents, he frequently would say, "So glad my father didn't miss the boat!" His Irish stories and humor will be greatly missed. The funeral mass is on Monday, October 20th from 11 a.m. to noon at St. Terrence church in Alsip. A one hour viewing is scheduled at the church prior to the mass. The funeral home is Curley Funeral Home in Chicago Ridge. Lunch will be served at 12:30 p.m. at Nino's Pizza in Alsip. Anyone who knew Jack is invited to celebrate his life with his family, friends, and associates. In lieu of flowers, Lanigan would probably prefer donations to the Republican Party to save Illinois from impending fiscal disaster.