Leader in Chicago Real Estate, Politics Lori Healey Dies at 65

Lori Healey, a prominent force in Chicago’s civic and real estate sectors who held leadership roles at City Hall and in major development projects, died Saturday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 65.

Healey’s career included stints as chief of staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley, CEO of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and most recently as executive project officer overseeing construction of the Obama Presidential Center for the Obama Foundation, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

A Kansas native, Healey began her career in economic development under Kansas Gov. John Carlin before moving to Chicago in the mid-1980s.

She joined the Daley administration in 1998 to oversee tax-increment financing, rising through City Hall to lead the Planning and Development Department and later serve as Daley’s chief of staff during the 2008 financial crisis. She also led Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics and organized the NATO and G-8 summits hosted in the city in 2012.

At McPier, Healey guided the development of the 10,000-seat Wintrust Arena and the 1,205-room Marriott Marquis Chicago, part of the McCormick Square initiative to expand convention infrastructure on the city’s Near South Side.

After leaving McPier in 2019, she briefly led Chicago operations for developer Clayco before joining the Obama Foundation in 2020 to oversee construction of the $830 million campus in Jackson Park. She remained in that role until her death.

Earlier in her career, Healey worked with the John Buck Company and Daley’s post-mayoral firm Tur Partners. Her blend of straight-talking pragmatism and policy fluency made her a trusted figure in the public and private sectors.

Former Mayor Daley called her a “brilliant leader” whose “clarity of vision and gift for collaboration” shaped many of the city’s most visible achievements.

Last month, Healey was honored with a Game Changer Award at the 37th annual Chicago Commercial Real Estate Awards for her decades of civic and development leadership.

Healey is survived by her children, Ramsey Al-Abed and Emily Thompson Lewis, her partner Walt Eckenhoff and several grandchildren.

— Judah Duke