Lantz retiring, Republican running for McHenry County coroner

With Marlene Lantz out of the picture, it should be easier for Anne Majewski to run in the Republican primary for McHenry County Coroner.

Lantz, 64, of McHenry, said she wants to retire when her term is up next year. “I’m retiring because it’s time,” she said. “I plan to work on my house, redecorating, working on my yard, planting flowers, and not answering the phone in middle of the night.”

Lantz has served as coroner since 1988 after being hired by the agency as chief deputy in 1980. Before that, she assisted with autopsies at Sherman Hospital and Provena St. Joseph Hospital, both in Elgin, she said.

Majewski, 54, of Barrington Hills, is a licensed physician and works as a private medical consultant, mainly for attorneys who need consulting on medical expertise and standards of practice, she said. She worked as an obstetrician gynecologist at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington until 1994, and then at a managed care company with ex-husband for a couple of years.

“I feel that with my medical knowledge, my diagnostic knowledge and my ability to work with other members of the medical team and the investigative staff, I would give our office a higher quality of medical emphasis,” she said. “I feel that the coroner’s office is not a political office, it’s a medical office.”

Majewski said she considered running in 2008, but postponed for personal reasons.

She also wants to be involved in community initiatives to educate people about the duties of the coroner’s office and educate the public on topics such as suicide and elderly care, she said.

Lantz said that her successor’s biggest challenge will be the large caseload, which last year amounted to more than 1,300 cases, up from an average of 1,100 to 1,200 per year.

“We see people dying needlessly because they cannot afford insurance, cannot afford their medication or lost their jobs,” Lantz said.