Former Elk Grove Village trustee who worked to build global ties and boost civics dies at 80

Former Elk Grove Village Trustee Patton Feichter is being remembered as a longtime public servant and lifelong educator whose advocacy and involvement spanned continents.

Feichter, who was on the village board for 27 years until his retirement to Venice, Florida two years ago, passed away peacefully Sunday. He was 80.

Funeral services are scheduled from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Grove Memorial Chapel, 1199 S. Arlington Heights Road in Elk Grove Village.

Mayor Craig Johnson ordered flags in front of municipal buildings to be flown at half-staff from sunrise Friday to sunrise Tuesday.

“Pat Feichter served Elk Grove Village in a professional and distinguished manner for 33 years,” Johnson said. “He was a steady hand on our village board whose knowledge and leadership helped make our community strong.”

Feichter was appointed to Elk Grove Village’s plan commission in 1989 during a busy time of growth in the village. After the death of longtime Trustee Ronald Chernick, Feichter was selected to fill his seat on the village board in August 1996, and went on to be elected to six consecutive 4-year terms.

A longtime political science teacher at Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Feichter was a booster of civics education and efforts to promote cross-cultural understanding and exchanges.

He started a program for students to compete in front of judges on their knowledge of American constitutional rights, and as coach, his Maine South constitution team won a national championship in Washington, D.C. in 1999.

A year later he helped forge a Sister Cities partnership between Elk Grove Village and Termini Imerese, Sicily in Italy.

In 2018, Feichter led the effort to ink a friendship agreement with Pernik, Bulgaria, taking two trips there to meet governmental leaders, visit historical sites and attend a cultural festival.

“The more we understand each other in the world and not fight with each other and know people in different cultures, I think the chances of wars and hostility between people is lessened,” Feichter said at the time.

Back home, Feichter was involved in a slew of local and regional organizations.

He was one-time president of the Community Character Coalition of Elk Grove, which promotes pillars of trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship to youth through community events and service opportunities.

An avid runner and cyclist, he was a liaison to the Friends of Cycling in Elk Grove Village, and worked to extend pedestrian paths throughout town. A task force on which he served released a village bicycle plan in 2021.

Feichter was a major proponent of recycling, often encouraging residents to do so during his village board meeting reports as chair of the recycling and waste committee.

He also was the village’s representative on the Meet Chicago Northwest regional tourism board.

Feichter stepped down from the village board in February 2023, saying he and his wife Anne had been contemplating a move to Florida for some time and decided to retire to focus on his health and family.