Karen Yarbrough (WTTW News)
Karen Yarbrough, the first Black woman to serve as Cook County clerk, has died. She was 73 years old.
Yarbrough passed away peacefully Sunday afternoon after being hospitalized last week, according to a county spokesperson.
“We have lost one of the brightest lights in the public service arena in Cook County and the State of Illinois and we will never be quite the same,” Chief Deputy Clerk Cedric Giles said in a statement.
Yarbrough was elected as clerk in 2018 and previously served as a state representative and Cook County’s recorder of deeds.
Mayor Brandon Johnson in a statement called Yarbrough “a pioneer and a tireless legislator, committed to social and economic justice throughout decades of public service.”
“Her passion for ensuring that communities experience the full support of their governing bodies and benefit from the fruits of our democracy will truly be missed, as will her radiant smile,” Johnson said. “Karen Yarbrough forged a path for officials like myself and many others, and my administration is keeping her memory and her family in our hearts during this difficult time.”
Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle called Yarbrough a “trailblazer and a friend” and said she is “grateful for her profound impact and the enduring contributions she made to Cook County.”
The county highlighted Yarbrough’s work to implement sweeping changes throughout the clerk’s office including voting process enhancements and modernizing election voting equipment. During COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, she also assumed all duties of the former Cook County Recorder of Deeds Office into the operations of the clerk’s office.
“So many of us stand on her shoulders and are actively walking pathways that she forged,” Yarbrough’s family said in a statement. “As a public servant, she had the courage to stand in support of issues that were not always popular, but she knew them to be right.
“She was a champion of women’s rights and a defender of the underprivileged and she touched so many people’s lives for the better. Proud is too small a word for what it means to have someone like her as part of our family.”
