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Frank Perry, Westchester Village President Gifted With ‘A Smile That Made You Smile,’ Dies


Westchester Village President Frank Perry with his wife, Peggy Cesarini Perry, during Westchester Fest in August. | File 

Wednesday, December 22, 2021 || By Michael Romain || @maywoodnews 

Westchester Village President Frank Perry, who was elected to his first term in that office in April, died Wednesday, Dec. 22. Perry’s death was confirmed by Westchester village officials in a statement posted Wednesday to the village’s Facebook page. According to public records, Perry was around 50 years old.

“It is with a heavy heart that the Village of Westchester has lost a member of its family,” the statement read. “President Frank Perry has lost his short battle with cancer and passed away peacefully this morning with his family by his side.

“The family asks that you respect their privacy at this time. There will be more information as it becomes available. Please know that all Village operations will continue to operate as usual. President Perry loved this community and made sure that a solid team was put in place that handles all of the day to day operations of the Village.

“On behalf of the rest of the Board and employees of the Village, we thank you and are committed to carrying on President Perry’s many initiatives that we have begun. God bless you all and please direct any questions to Paul Nosek, Village Manager at pnosek@westchester-il.org.”

On Wednesday, many Proviso area elected officials and community members offered their condolences and the Westchester Fire Department erected purple mourning drapes over its Roosevelt Road fire station in honor of the late village president.

“I am incredibly saddened to hear about the passing of Mayor Frank Perry today. He served Westchester as mayor for a short time, but we all know how deeply he loved his community and to serve its people from his years of dedicated service,” stated Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch.

“We are all better for having known Mayor Perry and I send my sincerest condolences to his wife Peggy Cesarini Perry, young daughter Ava and all who loved him during this time of mourning.”

Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson worked with President Perry on the Broadview-Westchester Water Agency, which the two mayors co-chaired. Thompson said Perry was more than a fellow elected official, “most importantly, Frank was my friend.

The Westchester Fire Department erected a purple mourning drape over its Roosevelt Road fire station on Wednesday. | Courtesy Westchester Fire Department/Facebook 

“He and I would speak regularly on issues that mutually affected our communities, and from those conversations a deep respect, admiration, and friendship emerged. Frank’s passing is a blow to me personally and to all those who had the good fortune to know him.”

“Your memory will live on through all the lives you have touched,” Perry’s friend and board colleague, Westchester Trustee Nick Steker, wrote on Facebook. “I know you will be watching over all of us.”

Before he was elected village president, Perry was a village trustee for 10 years, having first been elected to the board in 2011.

He came into local politics after owning a series of local businesses, including the popular Joe’s Place, a restaurant that was a Westchester institution when it was open and that garnered Perry an outsized name in the village, according to previous Village Free Press reporting.

In an interview in January, Perry said he was asked to run for trustee by former village president Paul Gattuso, himself the well-known owner of a local food institution, Paul’s Pizza, 3044 S. Wolf Rd.

After Gattuso announced that he would not be running for another term, Perry ran uncontested for village president.

“In a perfect world, my goal is to keep Westchester the bedroom community that everybody who lives here wants it to be, nice and quiet; but on the outskirts and near major roads,” Perry said in January.

“I would like to see those businesses come in that will provide tax relief and revenue for funding infrastructure and pensions, so that the tax burden isn’t all on the back of residents,” he said.

Not quite a year into his first term, Perry’s village presidency was already notable, with the village undergoing a transition from its old municipal complex 10300 Roosevelt Rd., to the new one at 2305 Enterprise Drive., which is still being renovated.

President Frank Perry helps himself to food from a local vendor during Westchester Fest. | File 

Over the summer, the village board unanimously approved purchase and sale agreements with a developer who plans to turn the old municipal complex into a retail complex that would include an Aldi grocery store and a Starbucks, among other commercial tenants. The move was consistent with Perry’s vision of broadening the village’s local tax base.

Perry’s administration also oversaw the start of one of the most comprehensive infrastructure improvement projects in the village’s history.

Westchester voters approved a $42 million referendum bond in November, several months before Perry took office, but much of the work — which includes sealing some 21 miles of the village’s 51 miles of sanitary water system lines designed to keep rainwater from backing into homes, paving village streets and replacing alleys, among other improvements — started during Perry’s tenure and will continue for at least another four years.

Perry and his administration was also positioned to figure prominently in the future of the vacant St. Joe’s High School in Westchester, Perry’s alma mater. The school closed permanently earlier this year. In the fall, the village board voted to pay a consultant firm $20,000 to conduct a feasibility study into the idea of transforming the high school into a youth sports complex.

Krista Brazel, a longtime Westchester resident and member of the village’s Economic Development Committee, wrote on Facebook that Perry “was a man with the biggest heart [and] a smile that made you smile.”

More as this story develops.

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