‘He loved life’: Longtime Barrington Hills community leader Dennis Kelly has died

Barrington Hills community leader Dennis Kelly is being remembered as a nature lover and an advocate for small businesses.

Kelly also was a man who knew how to have fun and tell a good story, family and friends say.

“He loved life,” recalled his wife, Vicki.

A longtime member of both the Barrington Hills Park District board and the Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce, the 76-year-old Kelly died Friday at home. He had cancer.

Kelly was born in Chicago, the youngest of nine siblings. His parents, Loretta and Frank Kelly, founded Kelly’s Pub in the Lincoln Park neighborhood shortly after Prohibition was repealed in 1933; it’s still operated by members of the Kelly family.

But Kelly wasn’t interested in the tavern business. He graduated from Southern Illinois University with a history degree and became an insurance broker and risk manager.

Kelly had two children, Matt and Liz, with his first wife before they divorced. He went on to marry Vicki in 1995, and their family — including daughter Tess — moved to Barrington Hills in 2002 to support their equestrian interests.

Initially, Vicki Kelly was concerned about how her husband would adjust to country living. But he took to it like a horse to a green pasture.

“He just loved the outdoors out here,” Vicki Kelly said.

Dennis Kelly served on the parks board from 2011 until his resignation this past April. He was its president for much of that time.

Kelly especially supported the community’s equestrian activities. He was active with land conservation organizations, too, including the Forest Preserve District of Cook County and the Barrington Area Conservation Trust, the park district’s Kim Keper said.

Kelly ran for Barrington Hills village president in 2021 but lost to Brian D. Cecola, who still has the job. While the campaign was acrimonious, Kelly and Cecola became friends afterward, Vicki Kelly said.

Beyond politics and the parks, Kelly was a Barrington Hills Chamber of Commerce member for more than 25 years and served as board president for a time. He cared deeply about the success of small businesses and believed in the “shop local” philosophy, said Suzanne Corr, the group’s president and CEO.

Kelly’s son, Matt, thinks that came from growing up in a family that ran a tavern.

“It was just in his origin story,” Matt Kelly said.

Kelly had a gift for storytelling. Tales came from his personal experiences in Chicago, Barrington Hills or around the world — like the one about the time he was in Ireland and went fishing at night with some mates and came back caked in mud and without any fish.

“He always had a wonderful story that you could learn from or laugh from,” Corr said.

Visitation is scheduled for 9 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 12, at St. Anne Catholic Church, 120 N. Ela St., Barrington. A funeral Mass will follow.

Instead of flowers, donations may be made to BraveHearts Therapeutic Riding and Educational Center via braveheartsriding.org/donate.