Leslie Tischauser, 81, of Oak Park, died on Dec. 22, 2024, at home. Born in Chicago on Dec. 29, 1942, at the Lutheran Deaconess Hospital. He attended primary school at Jehovah Lutheran, before attending Kelvyn Park High School, graduating in 1960. He then volunteered for the U.S. Army and served as a medical clerk at a hospital in Los Alamos, New Mexico, then volunteered for the VISTA Program (precursor to Americorps) and helped teach adults in Southeastern Tennessee about the U.S. Constitution and American history. He met Connie, the love of his life, who was a VISTA volunteer helping adults learn how to read and write. They were married for 56 years, first living in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago before buying a home in Oak Park in 1978, and raising two boys.
Leslie earned a PhD in American History from the University of Illinois Chicago in 1980 and spent more than 35 years teaching history and government courses at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights. During his career, he authored numerous academic articles and seven books about American history, focusing primarily on American race relations, slavery and the Jim Crow South. His first book, based on his dissertation, dug into German American identity in Chicago during the interwar years (1920-1940). He also volunteered for nearly 10 years at the Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS) in Oak Park (now Housing Forward).
To say that he loved baseball and the Chicago Cubs does not do his passion justice. He adored his team, going to Wrigley Field for the first time when he was 7 with his grandmother and brother and for the last time on Sept. 24, 2023, when the Cubs beat the Colorado Rockies. “There’s always next year,” was not just a lament but his way to express eternal joy and optimism for life. He never gave up hope that a better world is possible. An activist who was arrested numerous times for protesting wars, first in Vietnam, then in Iraq.
Les is survived by his wife, Connie; his sons, Jeffrey and Michael; his sisters, Linda Crawford, Lois Gerambia, and Laura Tischauser; his niece, Kim Crawford; his nephew, Tim Crawford (wife Martha); and over 20 nieces, nephews, and cousins.
He was preceded in death by his parents Vincent and Ruth Tischauser (née Sponholtz); his brother, Leroy Tischauser; his brothers-in-law, Joe Crawford and Paul Gerambia; his sister-in-law, Jackie Tischauser; and all of his aunts and uncles.
Visitation was held on Dec. 29 at Zimmerman-Harnett Funeral Home, 7319 Madison St., Forest Park. The funeral service was held on Dec. 30 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Oak Park, followed by interment at Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park.
The family wishes to thank Leslie’s caregiver, Magdalena, as well as the paramedics of the Oak Park Fire Department for helping him survive his cardiac arrest in 2009.