Wayne Arthur Kerstetter

1939 - 2022

Wayne Arthur Kerstetter, whose primary residence since 2005 was Marco Island FL, passed on in his home in Beverly Shores, Indiana, on February 17, 2022. Born at Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago on December 1, 1939, he was the first child of Arthur Edward Kerstetter and Lillian Eleanor Kerstetter, ne Asplund. His first memory was of his three-generation Swedish immigrant family sitting around a radio on Sunday afternoon, December 7,1941, hearing of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Mr. Kerstetter grew up in Chicago and earned an Associate Degree from North Park College. At age twenty he left Chicago, for what today would be called "gap years," to find meaning and a sense of direction in his life. He went to Baltimore (he'd "heard of it"), rented an attic room, worked as a door-to-door Fuller Brush Man, and read philosophy. This did not lift his spirits, and eventually he found himself standing at a bus stop wondering what if anything would bring meaning to his life-path. These words came distinctly to his thought, and became the true north of his life for the next forty years: Make a contribution to the human good.

He returned to Chicago, got a job at Allied Chemical, and began attending night classes in history at the University of Chicago. A professor encouraged him to enroll full-time. He earned his undergraduate degree there and then his JD from the U of C Law School in 1967.

His first and only work as an attorney was defending heroin addicts who had qualified for a methadone program. This confirmed a deep interest in criminal justice that had begun to emerge while he was in law school. With the principle "focus on contribution, not achievement" always guiding him, he devoted himself to public service throughout his remarkable career, which included work for the Chicago Police Department; under Mayor John Lindsey in New York City, serving as Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Police in the NYPD in the early 70s during the Knapp Commission interval, which means that he oversaw Internal Affairs during the "Serpico" days; and then serving as Superintendent of the Illinois Bureau of Investigation for three years, which led to accepting a job in the DEA (Drug Enforcement) in Washington DC. However, while flying back to Chicago, "somewhere over Ohio," he realized he disagreed with US federal drug policies and asked himself why he'd spend time enforcing them. Back in Chicago, he withdrew from the DEA job and pondered what was next.

Friends in the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Illinois, Chicago, encouraged him to teach there. He spent the last twenty-five years of his public service teaching courses on Organizational Theory, Policing, and Terrorism. He wrote several dozen academic articles, several still considered seminal today. He designed a course on criminal justice organizations, believing it was important for students to appreciate how organizations shape individual behavior and policies. He developed a seminar on race and crime in which students explored the evidence linking crime to race as well as the claims that the criminal justice system was discriminatory. He developed a comprehensive curriculum for the department which continues its influence today. Wayne identified with the student body at UIC, many of whom were first-generation in their families to attend college. He found mentoring these students deeply satisfying, as was seeing so many go on to meaningful careers across the spectrum of local, state and federal focus on justice in law enforcement.

As a Senior Research Fellow at the American Bar Foundation from 1982 to 1993, he worked on citizen input into criminal processes, and on police investigatory procedures. He also contributed to two international efforts: In the mid-Eighties, US Secretary of State George Schultz, from whom Wayne had taken a course at the U of C Law School, tapped him to join State Department Security and work with NATO countries to address the rising threat of radical Islam; in the early Nineties, Russian Intelligence sought his advice in how to stem the rise of the Russian mafia after the fall of the Soviet Union.

From age nineteen, throughout his life, Wayne pursued his love of "doing art," focusing on the human figure. He leaves behind many sculptures and drawings, more than a few considered by others to be of museum quality. One series of five half-size female figures, four bronze and one aluminum, which he cast in the early '90s at the Foundry of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, depicts the change in women's roles in the Twentieth Century. After retirement he pursued boating, fishing, and his deep interest in the history and anthropology of Native Americans, especially midwestern and Florida tribes.

It is impossible to list all the relatives and friends who deeply enriched Wayne's life, and who feel truly blessed to have known him. At the heart of his family are his wife of thirty years, Deborah L Allen (fka Allen-Baber); his sister and brother-in-law Judi and Dennis R Jones of Indianapolis IN; Deborah's two sisters and brother-in-law, Patricia L Allen of St. Louis, MO and Gail E Allen and her husband John

Colonna of Miami FL; his wonderful nieces and nephews and their families: Steve and Jorie Jones Watness; Kevin and Heather Jones Burroughs; and Patricia's children, Ethan Kruming; and Laura and Diana (Berg) Kruming-Berg. Wayne had no children of his own but embraced wholeheartedly Deborah's two stepsons from her first marriage and their families: Jim and Erin (Street) Baber of Houston TX; and Brendan and Tasha (Riecke) Baber of Kenosha WI; and three beloved grandchildren, Max, Morgan, and Asa Baber of Kenosha.

Wayne donated enthusiastically to Hillsdale College in Hillsdale MI and to The Principia College in Elsah IL. He and Deborah appreciated deeply the excellent and compassionate services of the VNA Hospice of Northwest Indiana, 501 Marquette St, Valparaiso, IN 46383. The family can be reached via PO Box 237, Beverly Shores IN 46301-0237; or email at deborahdunes@gmail.com. A Gathering for Reminiscence is likely this summer in Chicago.