Business has always played a major role in John H. Stroger's life. From his days as a business administration major at Xavier University in New Orleans to his tenure as Cook County Board President, where he managed the city's $2.9 billion budget.
One of Stroger's first business enterprises was in college.
Alvin Boutte Sr., a personal friend of Stroger's and noted Chicago banker, operated a lucrative dry-cleaning delivery business at Xavier.
When it came time for him to graduate in 1951, he decided to turn it over to Stroger, who still had one year left. Boutte's son, Alvin Boutte Jr., said that it was Stroger's character that led to his father's decision.
"My father said that he was the most honest person he'd ever met. [Stroger] wouldn't say he could do something that he couldn't do."
The business continued to strive under Stroger, and Boutte Jr. laughingly recalled how Stroger said the money helped with his dating life.
"I remember Uncle John saying, 'Before [the business] I never had any money, I couldn't go on a date. Your dad gave me that business and I was in style,'" Boutte said.
Following Xavier track coach Ralph Metcalfe, both Boutte and Stroger moved to Chicago in the early '50s. They became active in the South Side's 3rd Ward, over which Metcalfe was alderman.
And they maintained a relationship as they rose through the city's business ranks. Boutte became the president of two banks, and Stroger chaired the county's finance committee. The both were members of The Original Forty Club, an elite group of Black leaders in Chicago.
Boutte Jr., an investment banker at Grigsby & Associates, said that Stroger used his influence to pry the door open for Black financiers, at a time when the industry was closed to them. He referred to Stroger as one of the "biggest proponents of Black finance in the country."
"Cook County's the second largest county in the country. Him making sure there was minority representation in those transactions filtered out to other counties," Boutte Jr. said.
A childhood friend of Stroger's, Howard Medley, shared memories of their days together in Arkansas.
Medley, who owns Medley Moving and Storage, said, "I lost a true friend today, a friend that's hard to find. There aren't many John Strogers' out there today.
"We went to grammar school [Eliza Miller School] together in Arkansas. Our parents were good friends, so we really had no choice. It was automatic. We didn't have any problems that we wouldn't talk about with each other," Medley said.
"That was my friend, John Herman Stroger. I would always call him John Herman and his mother always called him John Herman.
"He would never sell out and go against his race. There was absolutely no way anyone could buy John Stroger. .
"He championed the health campaign health care for underprivileged people before so many got on the bandwagon. When he was a commissioner, that was his committee - health.
"When his child died, I sent my driver down to Arkansas to get his mother for the funeral because she was afraid to fly. John knew that she didnt want to fly, but he didn't know that I had already arranged for her to come," Medley continued.
"We would visit each other all the time. When I bought a place in Michigan and he bought a place in Wisconsin, our families would visit each other. We talked almost daily. If we didnt talk for a few days, he would call to figure out what's going on.
"The last day of his perfect health, he called me while he was on his way home to tell me about what happened earlier that day. He was mad because he didnt take my advice. He said, 'Howard, I should've listened to you.' I told him to let it go and everything would be all right; that he was going to win. That next day, he had a stroke. During the times I went to see him when he could still speak, he kept telling me that he should've listened to me, because if he did, he would be all right. I kept telling him that everything was going to be ok. After his condition became worse, during our visits, he would just look at me and squeeze my hand," Medley said.
"He was just a heck of a guy. Boy, I am going to miss him."
[Author Affiliation]
by Kathy Chaney and Leila Noelliste
Defender Staff Writers
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