Funeral to be held for Lori Healey, former Daley chief of staff and Obama Center executive
Longtime civic leader and urban planner Lori Healey, who died earlier this month from pancreatic cancer, will be laid to rest on Tuesday.
A celebration of life will be held Tuesday morning at Chicago Women's Park and Gardens in the South Loop near McCormick Place.
Healey began her career as a policy aide to Kansas Gov. John Carlin in 1983, according to the City Club of Chicago, where Healey was a board member.
In Chicago, Healey served as commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development under Mayor Richard M. Daley, and was appointed his chief of staff in 2007. In 2009, Healey was appointed president of Chicago 2016, where she co-led Chicago's ultimately unsuccessful bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Healey also coordinated the organizational and planning activities for the 2012 NATO Summit in Chicago as executive director of the NATO Host Committee, the City Club of Chicago noted.
Healey later served as chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, also known as McPier, which owns Navy Pier and McCormick Place.
In 2019, Healey became the president of the Chicago regional business unit at Clayco, a Chicago-based development and design firm.
In December 2020, Healey joined the Obama Foundation as senior vice president and executive project officer for the Obama Presidential Center. She was at the helm of the project to develop the 19.3-acre Obama Presidential Center campus in Jackson Park, which is still under construction.
Healey's family called her "a remarkable woman — a deeply devoted mother and grandmother who found her greatest joy in time spent with her adoring family."