Page 32 - September Issue

PROVIDER PROFILE: A LOOK AT SOMEONE WHO SERVES THOSE WHO SERVE Grown from the Greens
From his law enforcement roots, Tom Tuohy has stood up to make a difference n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
When the 19-year-old kid from the Northwest side heard his new mentor wanted to take him to the “Greens,” he wondered if that meant going to some kind of salad bar. Turns out, his mentor, Jesse White, was taking the kid to Cabrini Green, the notorious Chicago housing project where White had recruited thousands of youngsters into his famed Tumblers and on their way out to higher education and professional careers.
The kid admitted he was an at-risk kid at the time, a troubled teen whose father had left his family when he was 8 years old. He had managed to graduate from high school and get into DePaul, but at the time, a life of helping hundreds, even thousands, of Chicago coppers secure their financial future seemed pretty far- fetched.
“The minute Jesse took me into the Greens was the minute I stopped feeling sorry for myself,” reveals Tom Tuohy, the renowned attorney and perpetrator of the new Chicago FOP Ben- efits program that provides members access to services from the highest rated professionals at discounts of up to 50 percent. “That was the moment I realized I had something to give to the world and that I could make a difference.”
What Tom Tuohy has given to the world, including the world of Chicago law enforcement, exemplifies the power of positive influ- ence. His awakening at the Greens led to the creation of “Dreams for Kids,” a nonprofit that has helped more than 55,000 local, national and global at-risk youths, and his ascension through the legal world has helped thousands of cops with estate plans and other legal work that provide long-term peace of mind for them and their families.
“I’ve known Tom to not only be good at what he does, but he’s very sincere and very passionate,” comments Chicago Lodge 7 President Dean Angelo. “If Tom says the members are getting the best insurance, the best benefits or the best shoehorn, they are getting the best shoehorn out there. He’s a hard worker, and it’s nice to know there are heavy-lifters out there who concern them- selves with doing the right thing and not just the finances.”
Clearly, this is the guy that Lodge 7 members want providing a comprehensive supplemental benefits program. And here’s why.
A cop’s cop’s grandson
Tuohy’s connection to law enforcement goes back to before the days he went to St. Francis Borgia elementary school on the Northwest side with Angelo. (He was in class with Angelo’s younger sister.) Tuohy’s connection to law enforcement goes back to his grandfather, Patrick, who was a Chief of Major Crimes for the Chicago Police Department.
Patrick, apparently, was quite the celebrated cop. Among the
stack of photos Tuohy has are two of Grandpa Tuohy with President's Truman and Eisenhower. He says he has drawn ongoing inspiration from Chief Tuohy because of his toughness and his reputation as a cop’s cop.
“He had a lot of respect from the guys he worked with and the people he served in the city,” Tuohy states. “He had respect on the street and on the job. That’s a cop’s cop.”
His father, Patrick, was also a cop, a detective in the Austin neighborhood where Tuohy was born. After going 40 years without seeing Patrick, Tuohy confirmed that missing his father from his life helped sustain his passion to fulfill the mission he learned from White of making a difference, one kid at a time.
He made it through DePaul, enrolled in DePaul Law School in 1979, and, after graduation, his first client was a Chicago police officer for whom Tuohy did a real estate closing. He didn’t get paid for the job, instead receiving a Chicago Emerald Society jacket.
“That jacket was worth more to me than a fee,” Tuohy noted. “Through a name he gave me, I got a chance to meet all the Emer- ald Society officers and members, and I became their attorney. I’ve always been a police lawyer.”
One of the gentlemen he met at the Emerald Society was Bill Nolan, who was serving as Chicago Lodge 7 Treasurer at the time. Nolan worked with Tuohy to bring a legal benefits plan to the Lodge in the 1990s, when he was elected president, that wound
32 CHICAGO LODGE 7 n SEPTEMBER 2015