Dan Ryan, Jr.

Daniel B. "Dan" Ryan, Jr. (1894–1961) was a Chicago insurance broker and served as President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners from 1954 to his death. Ryan was a Democrat.[1] The Dan Ryan Expressway was named in his memory.

Life

Ryan attended De La Salle Institute and Kent College of Law. When his father, Dan Ryan, Sr. died in 1923, Ryan, Jr. was elected to fill out his term on the Cook County Board of Commissioners. With the exception of 1926-1930, he sat on the board until his death and served as the Board President for the final years of his life.

Highways

Ryan was a promoter of superhighways for the Chicago area, but financing was difficult before creation of the Interstate Highway System, and in 1955 Ryan engineered an ambitious bond issue program to jump-start construction of expressways in Cook County. Dan Ryan Senior hailed from Dundrum in Co. Tipperary, where his family were known as the Ryan Larrys (In Tipperary there were so many Ryans that they had to assume second names to differentiate the different families)

References

Preceded by William N. Erickson

Cook County Board President 1954–1961

Succeeded by John J. Duffy