News

Metra boss killed by train hours before misconduct meeting

Posted May 06, 2010 11:00 pm

Marni Pyke

Phil Pagano dedicated most of his professional life to Metra, and when allegations of misconduct threatened his beloved career, he took a desperate way out, authorities contend.

Pagano died Friday morning after walking onto the railway tracks into the path of a Metra train in Crystal Lake.

His actions came just hours before an emergency meeting of the board of directors to discuss his job status as executive director.

Pagano, 60, had been placed on paid leave pending an investigation into potential financial irregularities, which officials indicated may involve unapproved advances of more than $50,000 in vacation pay, among other issues.

McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren said documents found both on Pagano's body and in his Crystal Lake home Friday indicate he took his own life.

"I would describe it as a letter indicating his intentions," Nygren said, declining further comment on the letter's contents. "We have no reason to believe this was anything but an intentional act on his part."

A train engineer who witnessed the 8 a.m. collision told investigators he spotted Pagano standing on the tracks about 30 feet north of the crossing at East Hillside Road in Crystal Lake.

"He was standing in the center of the tracks, looking straight at the train," Nygren said. "(The engineer) was unable to stop before hitting him."

The train was traveling between 45 and 50 mph at impact, Nygren said. "As you can imagine, it was very gruesome."

As word spread, Metra officials canceled the meeting that had been scheduled to start at 10 a.m.

"I'm devastated," Metra director and Arlington Heights Mayor Arlene Mulder said. "Phil Pagano was Metra. He lived it. He loved it."

Director Jim LaBelle of Zion called Pagano "a force."

"He was the embodiment of Metra, one of those larger-than-life personalities. He learned the system from the ground up," LaBelle said. "If there was something to know about the system, he knew it."

Director Caryl Van Overmeiren of Geneva added: "His life was trains, and he dearly loved them. He knew his stuff."

On April 30, the Metra board hired independent attorney James G. Sotos to investigate allegations of fiscal improprieties after talking with Pagano.

While meeting with directors, Pagano said he had made an error and appeared downcast, Van Overmeiren said.

"He was very serious, very quiet," she said.

Mulder didn't specify what was under investigation but said, "It was wrong, and he knew it."

But she noted that the alleged infractions "weren't anything to the proportion to what maybe some people are thinking."

"I don't think we were too hard on him," Van Overmeiren said. "I think what we did was appropriate."

She added Pagano promised to cooperate and provide the board with any information they wanted.

When the Daily Herald spoke with Pagano on Thursday, he had no comment other than to say he had not been informed about the Friday meeting.

Authorities said it appears Pagano drove to the accident location about 11/2 miles from his residence and parked in a lot that runs near the railway. From there, sheriff's police said, he walked across Hillside Road and stood on the tracks awaiting the train.

Pagano's wife, who apparently had been out of state visiting the couple's daughter, was notified later by the McHenry County coroner's office. Nygren said he was unsure of when she last spoke to her husband but there was no indication of marital discord leading up to his death.

Asked whether Pagano had discussed suicide with others or reached out for help, Nygren said, "We believe he may have talked to one or more friends in the last 24 hours, but I'm not at liberty to divulge those conversations."

The apparent suicide dumbfounded Chip Pew, rail safety specialist at the Illinois Commerce Commission and state coordinator of Operation Lifesaver, a program that aims to reduce collisions and fatalities involving trains.

Pagano was a major supporter of Operation Lifesaver and also backed programs to educate children about rail safety, Pew said.

"For him to end his life so tragically at the hand of the railroad, it's shocking," Pew said.

As someone who as head of a commuter rail system was all too familiar with the suicide-by-train phenomenon, Pagano's death "is hard to swallow," Pew said. "It seems surreal."

Joseph DiJohn, a transportation professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who knew Pagano well, called him a "normal family guy. I don't believe he had any problems."

DiJohn also said he found it hard to believe Pagano had done anything criminal. DiJohn, who heads up the Metropolitan Transportation Support Initiative, said he thinks Metra "could have handled it more sensitively."

But pressure was mounting on Metra as the U.S. Department of Transportation launched a review into alleged financial improprieties and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin called on the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general to intervene. An official also said the Cook County state's attorney's office was investigating, although a spokeswoman would not confirm or deny.

Pagano had worked at the agency since 1984 and took over as executive director in 1990. Officials appointed Deputy Executive Director of Operations Bill Tupper as acting Chief April 30.

Pagano, who was paid $269,600 a year, had previously received bonuses of up to $40,000 in 2003 and 2004, but the Metra board discontinued the practice after criticism from lawmakers and the Illinois attorney general's office.

The issue surfaces at a time when Metra and other transit agencies are in tight financial straits. Metra recently raised weekend passes and one-way fares and increased penalties for buying tickets on trains.

McHenry County Coroner Marlene Lantz said her office is awaiting an autopsy, tentatively planned for today, before releasing an official cause of death.

A Metra statement said: "Phil served this agency with distinction for many years. Today, we shall remember the good work he achieved with our board of directors and the men and women of Metra. He was dedicated to our passengers and he always considered the men and women of Metra his family and there is a tremendous sense of loss within the agency."

Pagano's death prompted reminders from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention that help is available at (800) 273-TALK or 273-8255.

• Daily Herald staff writer Joseph Ryan contributed to this report.

Dead: Pagano confronted train 11/2 miles from home

Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano Courtesy ABC 7 Chicago

<h1>More Coverage</h1>

<h2>Video</h2>

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<h2>Stories</h2>

<li><a href="/story/?id=379298">Pagano left legacy of service improvementsy <span class="date">[05/07/2010]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=378966">Metra board may decide executive director's fate today <span class="date">[05/07/2010]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=377375">Metra board hires attorney to investigate its director <span class="date">[05/01/2010]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=376796">Metra chief suspended during pay review <span class="date">[04/28/2010]</span></a></li>

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