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Funeral home owner, winner of McHenry coroner primary has died

Mark Justen, a man many knew as an "institution" in the city of McHenry, has died, the Northwest Herald confirmed with multiple sources on Sunday.

McHenry Police Department spokesperson Patrick Polidori said they were called to a death investigation in the 300 block of Green Street about 10:15 a.m. Sunday.

He said because the death still is under investigation, they cannot give identifying information on the individual out. The cause of death has not been reported yet.

"I can say that it's not suspicious at this point," Polidori said.

Justen, 66, was the owner of Justen Funeral Home and Crematory in McHenry, Justen's Wonder Lake Funeral Home and Justen's Round Lake Funeral Home.

In the recent primary election, he had won a tight race for the McHenry County coroner's office as a Republican. There is no Democratic candidate in the race.

"For 43 years, I've been a funeral director, dealing with death and dying," Justen told the Northwest Herald on election night. "I've been up all hours at night, I've been to all different tragedies, all different crime scenes, and so I know I was the most experienced."

One of Justen's first priorities as coroner, he said, would have been to get the office accreditation.

Justen was the fourth generation of his family to run what is now Justen Funeral Homes. The business operates three facilities: Justen Funeral Home and Crematory in McHenry, Justen's Wonder Lake Funeral Home and Justen's Round Lake Funeral Home.

Justen had a wife, Nancy, who he was married to since 1986, and they have two sons, Rob and Alex.

He received his mortuary science education from Worsham College, and graduated from McHenry Community High School.

Justen was one of the founding members of the Illinois Funeral Directors Disaster Team in 1992.

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