Dick Young Leaves Behind a Lasting Legacy for Kendall, Kane Counties

Dick Young was looking out for the environment decades before it became the cool thing to do.

Shortly after the U.S. Marine returned from fighting in the Pacific during World War II, he set about doing everything he could to protect the Fox River and the environment surrounding it from Elgin to Yorkville. The lifelong Oswego resident died Sunday at 86 at Rush-Copley Medical Center after battling Alzhemier's disease.

"We’re going to miss him, and he was such a great resource," said Oswego historian Roger Matile. "... He was really a unique man. I know that word gets maybe overused these days, but he was really one of them."

A 1941 graduate of Oswego High School, Young went off with his brothers Stan and John to fight in the Pacific Theater in World War II, Matile said. He fought in the battle of Iwo Jima.

After returning from war, Young attended college on the GI Bill. He started his  masonry contracting business after graduating. Matile said he built many buildings in town, including the first Oswego Community Bank, which was between the present day . and on Main Street.

Young's work in conservation began in the early 1950s. He went to work as the Kendall County building and zoning inspector and was instrument in modernizing many of the area's zoning laws, Matile said. He also was instrumental in the establishments of the Oswegoland Park District and Kendall County Forest Preserve District in 1964.

Kane County also felt the benefits of Young's work. He was the county's chief environmental officer until 1987, helping to establish updated Kane County zoning laws. Both Kendall and Kane counties have forest preserves named for Young.

Young also was a confidant of Jim Phillips, also known as The Fox—and local environmental advocate, Matile said. Another of Young's fellow conservationists was Ralph Frese, who would often canoe the Fox River with Young looking for rare species of wildlife.

"Dick was a Kendall County treasure," Frese said. "If every county in this state had someone like Dick Young, what a great state we would have."

Young also authored the book Kane County Wild Plants & Natural Areas: Kane County, Illinois, published in 2007, and was the recipient of the Studs Turkel Humanities Service Award in 2006.

Funeral arrangement information for Young can be found here in his obituary.