Karen Lewis, Firebrand Former Chicago Teachers Union President, Dead at 67 Subscribe By Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas, John Byrne & Juan Perez Jr., Chicago Tribune February 08, 2021 9 min read
Karen Lewis, former president of the Chicago Teachers Union, listens to a question after a meeting of the union s House of Delegates in Chicago on Sept. 14, 2012. The union confirmed Lewis death on Monday. She was 67.Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Share article Copy URL
Karen Lewis, the firebrand former Chicago Teachers Union president who led a seven-day strike in 2012 and was a one-time mayoral hopeful who was unable to run for office because of a cancer diagnosis in October 2014, has died, the CTU confirmed Monday. She was 67.
District officials had been demanding some teachers return to school buildings Monday, ahead of a planned return of up to 9,000 young children on Feb. 22.
The death of Karen Lewis, the former Chicago Teachers Union president who once considered running for mayor, sparked an outpouring of condolences from elected officials and others on Monday. Here is a sampling of what people were saying.