Tom Koontz—a Midwesterner whose life took him to New York, Puerto Rico and Chicago, where he was, among other things, a recent sales associate for Windy City Times—died Feb. 29. He was 56.
Jamie Baron, a friend of Koontz since 1981, told Windy City Times that Koontz was awaiting a liver transplant and had only about another month to wait.
Koontz was born in Plymouth, Ind., and attended Indiana University. He then moved to Chicago, the Cayman Islands, Los Angeles and New York, where he worked at the Center for Living with spiritual activist/author Marianne Williamson. Koontz then moved to Puerto Rico, where he started a newspaper, the Puerto Rico Breeze. A change in the political climate motivated Koontz to move back to Chicago.
When asked what he will miss the most about Koontz, Barron answered ‘his sense of humor and his laugh. He enjoyed insult humor and we’d do that to each other quite a bit; we had that kind of relationship since we met each other. Especially in the last year, I was happy if I could get him to laugh. He had a wicked sense of humor—evil, in a way. I think that was part of the reason we liked each other so much.’
Joe Klene, who was Koontz’ partner for over a decade (before the relationship ended in 1992), agreed that Koontz had a quirky sense of humor. ‘He was very much a person who enjoyed having fun,’ he said. ‘He liked to entertain and he really liked [having] friends. The sense of community was really important to him.’ Windy City Media Group (WCMG) Assistant Publisher Terri Klinsky said, ‘Tom was a great guy with a huge heart. Although he became ill shortly after he started to work at WCMG, he still wanted to do his best and work as hard as he could.’
Koontz is survived by his parents, Donald and Betty; sisters Trudy and Terry; and niece Mindy.
Barron indicated that a memorial service would take place for Koontz in the spring. Details will be published as they become available.