Former CLC board member, activist Philip Carrigan dies
Former College of Lake County board member, longtime activist and Lake County community leader Philip Carrigan died Sunday at the age of 73.
Carrigan, a Waukegan resident, resigned from the board in September for personal reasons. He was elected to a 6-year term in April 2013 and previously served on the board from 2005-2011.
CLC board Chairman Richard A. Anderson called Carrigan a tireless advocate for community college education as well as causes such early childhood education, transitional housing and food pantries.
"He earned the deepest respect and admiration of his colleagues on the board of trustees, as well as CLC faculty, staff and students," Anderson said Tuesday. "On behalf of the board of trustees of the College of Lake County, we express our deepest condolences to Dr. Philip J. Carrigan's family and gratitude for his years of exemplary service, leadership and integrity."
Among the other organizations Carrigan worked on behalf of were Staben House and Staben Center, the Waukegan Township-based transitional housing programs; PADS homeless shelters; the Faith Food Pantry in Zion; the Lake County Community Action Project; the John Howard Association, a Chicago-based prison reform organization; and the CEASE FIRE Advisory Council, an anti-gun violence program in Waukegan and North Chicago.
According to CLC, Carrigan was a native of Massachusetts. He earned an undergraduate pharmacy degree from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, a master's degree from Northeastern University and a Ph.D. in pharmacokinetics from the University of Connecticut.
He began work at Abbott Laboratories in Lake County in 1974, and in 1985 he was promoted to the Volwiler Society at Abbott in recognition of his scientific contributions to the company. Carrigan retired from Abbott in 2004 after more than 30 years primarily in the area of pharmaceutical research and development.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Clare Jakes, and daughter, Erin, a 1999 CLC graduate.
A wake is scheduled from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 9, at Peterson Funeral Home, 408 N. Sheridan Road in Waukegan. Visitation will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, followed by an 11 a.m. funeral Mass at St. Patrick's Church, 15000 W. Wadsworth Road in Wadsworth.