Friends, colleagues mourn former state Sen. Don Totten

Friends, longtime colleagues and political protégés are mourning the death of Don Totten - former Illinois state senator, Cook County Republican Party chairman and Schaumburg Township Republican committeeman - at the age of 86.

Totten, who had resided in Elgin in recent years, died Tuesday while with his three surviving children in North Carolina. His wife of 63 years, Joyce, died last June.

Among the most prominent of his many forays into politics was his serving as Illinois and Midwest director of Ronald Reagan's 1976 and 1980 campaigns for president. Totten lost his own 1982 bid for lieutenant governor of Illinois to George Ryan in the Republican primary.

His campaign manager in that race was former Daily Herald reporter Ed Murnane, who counts Totten among the influences that transformed him from the product of a Democratic household on the South Side of Chicago to a soldier for the same conservative Republican cause in Washington, D.C., during the '80s and early '90s.

"He was a principle guy," Murnane said of Totten. "He thought there was a right way and wrong way for things to be done. ... Some Republicans will blow with the wind, but (late U.S. Rep. Phil) Crane, Reagan and Totten (would) not."

Attorney and longtime friend Joe Morris, for whom Totten managed a 1994 campaign for Cook County Board president, wrote a tribute recalling the many gifts the late leader brought to the cause of fiscal conservatism.

"He was a strong believer in America and in welcoming newcomers to this country, helping to inculcate them in the principles of the American Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution," Morris wrote. "He took great pleasure in helping people navigate the shoals of the immigration and citizenship process, often accompanying them to naturalization ceremonies and making sure that, if possible, the same day they received their Certificates of Naturalization they registered to vote - and they received their membership cards in the Schaumburg Township branch of the Republican Party."

Morris said Totten was a perfect local example of the type of conservative Republican Reagan came to represent on the national stage. But one of the defining moments of his personal and political characters was the death of his first child, Donna, from leukemia at age 7.

"That created in Don a remarkable affinity for people," Morris said. "He understood human suffering. It gave him a softer side than you often see in politicians."

Both a visitation and service are tentatively scheduled for Friday, April 12, at Ahlgrim and Sons Funeral Home, 330 W. Golf Road in Schaumburg. Details are expected to be finalized within the next few days.

Besides his children, Totten's survivors include at least seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild, Morris said.