{"id":3884,"date":"2018-10-04T09:26:09","date_gmt":"2018-10-04T14:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dgedc.com\/?p=3884"},"modified":"2020-08-06T09:30:32","modified_gmt":"2020-08-06T14:30:32","slug":"downers-grove-remembers-longtime-business-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dgedc.com\/downers-grove-remembers-longtime-business-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Downers Grove Remembers Longtime Business Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p> By\u00a0BOB RAKOW<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"mailto:brakow@shawmedia.com\">E<\/a>Oct. 4, 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mysuburbanlife.com\/_internal\/cimg!0\/gftd5hc0b5drhc8gs40x6sjxrpxn5ax\" alt=\"Linda Kunze is being remembered for her dedication to the downtown Downers Grove business community. She was the executive director of the Downers Grove Downtown Management Corp. for 20 years. Kunze died Sept. 26.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mysuburbanlife.com\/downers%20grove\">DOWNERS GROVE<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 Michael Cassa vividly recalls his third day on the job in July 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new president and CEO of the Downers Grove Economic Development Corp., Cassa received a walking tour of downtown Downers Grove from a person with intimate knowledge of the business district: Linda Kunze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cassa immediately was struck by the attention Kunze received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeople were saying hi, honking,\u201d Cassa recalled. \u201cEveryone knew her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cassa and many other members of the Downers Grove community were saddened Sept. 26 at the news of Kunze\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cShe was the best advocate the downtown could have had,\u201d said Cassa, who worked regularly with Kunze on a variety of projects affecting the business community. \u201cShe will be greatly missed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kunze, 66, was the executive director of the Downers Grove Downtown Management Corp. for 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But she never viewed her responsibilities with the organization as a job, Cassa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sure there was never a thought in her mind that she would work anywhere else,\u201d he said. \u201cShe was in the job she was in because she loved it. Linda was never off the clock.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Cassa partnered with Kunze on several projects, they also developed a close friendship over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;She became a good friend,&#8221; Cassa said. &#8220;I was very sad to learn of her passing. It&#8217;s also a loss to the downtown. She poured her heart and soul into the downtown.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Erin Venezia, marketing director for the Downers Grove Downtown Management Corp., called Kunze her friend, boss and mentor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Her smile brought a&nbsp;sense of calmness to even the most stressful situations,&#8221; Venezia said in an email. &#8220;Linda&#8217;s caring and kindness was contagious. She was downtown Downers Grove&#8217;s biggest advocate. Her dedication and passion has given us the downtown we all know and love, today. She will truly never be forgotten, but will always be missed.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Commissioner Bill White called Kunze a \u201ctrue champion\u201d for downtown Downers Grove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHer energy and relentlessly warm and cheerful mood was contagious and always left me with confidence that our downtown community was in good hands,\u201d White said. \u201cIt&#8217;s a cliche to say Linda will be missed, but it&#8217;s also 100-percent true. Linda Kunze will be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Laura Crawford, president and CEO of Chamber630, said her memories of Kunze came back to her during funeral services Sept. 29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs we said goodbye to Linda last weekend, I felt that we likely will never again see the beautiful and vast outpouring of sadness and love for someone with such tremendous dedication and passion for the village of Downers Grove and especially its downtown,\u201d Crawford said in an email. \u201cLinda Kunze \u2013 like none other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Liz Chalberg, president of the Downers Grove Historical Society, said Kunze&#8217;s ongoing efforts to grow and promote downtown Downers Grove will not be forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Linda is one of those true pillars of the community who will be remembered for her successful efforts to reawaken the downtown and direct the development of this now economically viable heart of the community,&#8221; Chalberg said in an email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mayor Martin Tully described Kunze as &#8220;the hub of the wheel on which downtown Downers Grove progressively turned for two decades.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cShe not only touched and made many people&#8217;s lives better, she touched and made better an entire community,\u201d Tully said in a Facebook post announcing her death. \u201cLinda and her wonderful family are in all our thoughts and prayers. In that she was someone who worked tirelessly to improve our downtown and entire community, she more than deserves to rest in peace. She surely was one of our finest citizens.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Practically every downtown event was conceived and organized by Kunze, Tully added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Memorials can be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.lls.org\/\">LLS.org<\/a>, or Little Friends Inc.,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.littlefriendsinc.org\/\">littlefriendsinc.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0BOB RAKOW EOct. 4, 2018 DOWNERS GROVE&nbsp;\u2013 Michael Cassa vividly recalls his third day on the job in July 2011. The new president and CEO of the Downers Grove Economic Development Corp., Cassa received a walking tour of downtown Downers Grove from a person with intimate knowledge of the business district: Linda Kunze. Cassa immediately [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Downers Grove Remembers Longtime Business Leader - Downers Grove EDC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dgedc.com\/downers-grove-remembers-longtime-business-leader\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Downers Grove Remembers Longtime Business Leader - Downers Grove EDC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By\u00a0BOB RAKOW EOct. 4, 2018 DOWNERS GROVE&nbsp;\u2013 Michael Cassa vividly recalls his third day on the job in July 2011. 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