‘A good man’: Services set for former Libertyville police Chief Dan McCormick
As a police officer, Dan McCormick sometimes dealt with the worst elements in town. But you would never know it, say those who knew him.
The career public servant and former Libertyville police chief died Saturday at age 90 surrounded by family. He wasn’t flashy. Rather, he was a genuine and modest people person, listener and helper, tinkerer and fixer, friends and family say.
“He just treated everybody with respect from the janitor up to the CEO,” said daughter Kelly Spangler. “It didn't matter to him — you were a human being. He instilled that in all of us.”
A Libertyville native and longtime resident, McCormick was born at what now is called Advocate Condell Medical Center, and graduated from Libertyville High School.
He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Stationed in Colorado, he honed a natural talent for resourcefulness in the motor pool.
“We called him MacGyver. He could fix anything,” said Spangler, referencing the popular 1980s-era TV show.
Back home, McCormick served as a Lake County sheriff’s deputy for about 10 years before joining the Libertyville Police Department in the late 1960s. He rose through the ranks and was named chief in 1990, retiring in 1996.
“He was a great person, very personable, very humble,” recalled Kevin Bowens, who started a 25-year run as village administrator in 1991. “He was a very dedicated public servant. A good man.”
McCormick, then a new police officer, took a young Terry Weppler home for shooting off firecrackers near the Des Plaines River. Weppler, who would serve on the village board and later as mayor for 12 years, knew McCormick for years.
Weppler said he used to have coffee with McCormick and two other police officers at a local restaurant.
“Just a nice person,” Weppler said. “Never heard him speak negatively about anyone or anything and that is rare for a police officer since they typically deal with the worst part of a community.”
Always busy, McCormick also was a paid on-call firefighter, retiring as assistant chief when he was named police chief. He also moonlighted fixing friends’ cars at a bay he rented at a local garage.
“Everything from a simple tune up to rebuilding an engine, it was pretty much all self-taught,” Spangler said.
McCormick was an outdoorsman and passed his passion for fishing to his children and grandchildren, according to his obituary. He and his wife, Margie, moved to Spring Grove about 25 years ago but spent winters in Arizona and summers in Wisconsin.
Besides Margie, he is survived by five children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at McMurrough Funeral Chapel, 101 Park Place, Libertyvile. Service is at 1 p.m. Saturday at St. John Lutheran Church, 501 Park Ave., Libertyville with visitation at the church two hours before the service.