WLS mourns veteran broadcaster, activist Roeser

Tom Roeser, a conservative writer and broadcaster, died early Sunday at 82 — less than two weeks after retiring from WLS 890 AM where he spent the last 17 years of his career.

Roeser was well-known for his political commentary and remembered by U.S. Senator Mark Kirk as “Mr. Conservative Republican in Illinois.”

Roeser founded Project LEAP, an organization dedicated to stop voter fraud, and he served in leadership positions in a variety of Catholic, civic and political organizations in Chicago, where he lived. He founded the Chicago Daily Observer and regularly wrote for local and national publications as well as appeared as a guest on radio and TV news programs.

Dan Proft, an entrepreneur, writer and WLS radio host, has known Roeser for more than a decade and said his death is a great loss for Chicago.

“When I think of him I think of somebody who really lived what he professed and he professed very good things,” Proft said. “He lived a good life and contributed a lot.”

Proft said it was congestive heart failure that kept Roeser in and out of the hospital for the last several months.

Roeser retired from WLS on May 21. Earlier in his career, he served in the U.S. Government, worked as a vice president of the Quaker Oats Company and taught at various colleges and universities.

Roeser, who was born in Evanston in 1928, is survived by his wife and four adult children.