R.I.P. Michael Winn

MEF Acknowledges the Passing of Lifetime Advisory Board Member, Mike Winn

Mike and Jackie Winn (left) on a visit to the Metro Achievement Center for girls.

Last Friday, December 10, many former and current MEF staff, board members, volunteers, and supporters paid their final respects to Michael C. Winn, a deeply loved and respected member of MEF’s Lifetime Advisory Board, who went to his eternal reward on November 27, 2021 in Key Biscayne, Florida.

Mike and Jackie Winn attending an MEF dinner.

Mike served on the MEF Board of Directors for more than a quarter century. His impact on the students of Midtown and Metro is immeasurable. Generations of underserved youngsters who have participated in MEF programs will enjoy better and happier lives in part because of Mike’s generosity and his guidance as a member of the board.

Mike leaves behind his wife of 62 years, Jackie, also well known to and loved by the MEF family. The Winns have eight children, sixty-two grandchildren, and twenty-one great grandchildren.

In 1974 he joined Hollister Inc., a manufacturer of healthcare products, where he later became President and CEO. 

His obituary, published in the Chicago Tribune, summed up Mike Winn’s legacy beautifully: 

His family and countless friends grieve the loss of his counsel, his example of fidelity, his unfailing leadership with a servant's heart, his irreproachable integrity, his strength in times of suffering, his wisdom, his modeling of virtue by example, his prudence in all things, his unvarnished honesty, his ability to heroically forgive, his humility in his flaws and overlooking the flaws in others, his immeasurable generosity, his singing of Irish songs, his wonderfully dry sense of humor, his graceful dancing, his enthusiastic cheering-on of The Chicago Bears, his irreplaceable squeeze-hugs, his efficiency in packing dishwashers and trunks, his storytelling, his side-splitting laughter, his love of back scratches and his famous turkey soup. His family and friends find great consolation in the fact that his love and care for them will only be expanded and perfected in the presence of God his Father, Our Blessed Mother Mary and all the angels and the saints.

Memorial donations can be directed to Wynncliff Inc. by visiting:
wynncliff.org/donations-payments