Karen A. Yarbrough (August 22, 1950 – April 7, 2024) was an American politician who served as the

Cook County Clerk The Cook County Clerk is the Municipal clerk, clerk of county government in Cook County, Illinois. History The office of Cook County Clerk was established in 1831, the year that Cook County, Illinois was created. For the first several years, th ...

from 2018 until her death in 2024. Yarbrough served as a member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

from 2001 to 2013, and as Cook County Recorder of Deeds from 2012 to 2018. She briefly served as the interim chair of the

Democratic Party of Illinois The Democratic Party of Illinois is the affiliate of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is the oldest extant state party in Illinois and one of just two recognized parties in the state, alon ...

after long-time chair

Michael Madigan Michael Joseph Madigan (born April 19, 1942) is an American politician and convicted felon who is the former speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was the longes ...

resigned from the position in February 2021. Elected to the office of Cook County Clerk on November 6, 2018, she was the first woman and

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

to hold the position. She held the position until her death in April 2024.

Early life and education

Yarbrough was born on August 22, 1950, in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Her family moved to

Maywood, Illinois Maywood is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, in the Chicago metropolitan area. It was founded on April 6, 1869, and organized October 22, 1881. The population was 23,512 at the 2020 census. History There was limited European-Am ...

in the 1960s, and Yarbrough's father, Don Williams Sr., was an insurance agent who later became mayor of the village. She earned a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from

Chicago State University Chicago State University (CSU) is a Historically black colleges and universities, predominantly black (PBI) public university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It includes an honors program for undergraduates and offers bachelor's and master ...

, a master's in Inner City Studies from

Northeastern Illinois University Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) is a public university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. NEIU serves approximately 5,000 students in the region and is both a federally designated Hispanic-serving institution and Asian American and Nat ...

and attended nondegree executive education at the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

Political career and community involvement

In 1998, Yarbrough unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Eugene Moore in the Democratic primary for the 7th district seat in the

. Yarbrough ran again for the 7th district seat in the Illinois House of Representatives again in 2000, this time succeeding, unseating incumbent Wanda Sharp in the Democratic primary and winning the general election. Her term began in January 2001, and she was later appointed an assistant majority leader in 2011 and 2012. Yarbrough left the Illinois House of Representatives in 2012 and became Cook County Recorder of Deeds in December that year. On November 6, 2018, Yarbrough ran unopposed and was elected as the Clerk of Cook County, becoming the first woman and African-American to be elected as the county clerk of Cook County. She took office on December 3, 2018 and was preceded by retiring clerk

David Orr David Duvall Orr (born October 4, 1944) is an American Democratic politician who served as the Cook County Clerk from 1990 to 2018. Orr previously served as alderman for the 49th ward in Chicago City Council from 1979 to 1990. He briefly serve ...

, and served until her death on April 7, 2024. On February 22, 2021, Yarbrough was appointed as acting Chair of the

, after preceding chairman

Mike Madigan Michael Joseph Madigan (born April 19, 1942) is an American politician and convicted felon who is the former speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the longest-serving leader of any state or ...

resigned. She held this position until

Robin Kelly Robin Lynne Kelly (born April 30, 1956) is an American politician from Illinois who has served as the U.S. representative from since 2013. A Democrat, Kelly served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 2003 to 2007. She then served as c ...

was elected as Chair of the Illinois Democratic Party on March 3. She served on several house committees, including as chairwoman of the

Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and u ...

, vice-chairwoman of the House Insurance Committee, on the Environmental Health Committee, Appropriations-Public Safety Committee, and the Computer Technology Committee. Yarbrough was a member of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus. Yarbrough served as vice-chair of the

. She was regarded as an ally of former state party chairman

. Yarbrough was the founder and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Hathaway Insurance Agency, where she worked for thirty years. She served as president of the Maywood

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...

, and on the boards of

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit organization, nonprofit fundraising affiliates. Prior to 2015, United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public. Individual Un ...

of Suburban Chicago and the Oak Park

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

Personal life and death

Yarbrough was married to Henderson Yarbrough, Sr., a former Maywood village trustee and Maywood village president, the latter position of which he served from 2005 to 2013. They had six children and twelve grandchildren. On April 7, 2024, Yarbrough died after being hospitalized with an undisclosed illness at

Loyola University Medical Center Loyola Medicine, also known as Loyola University Health System, is a quaternary-care system with a main medical center campus in the western suburbs of Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The medical center campus is located in Maywood, w ...

in Maywood. She was 73.

References

External links

Representative Karen A. Yarbrough
official website
Illinois General Assembly – Representative Karen A. Yarbrough (D) 7th District
official IL House website
BillsCommitteesProject Vote Smart – Representative Karen A. Yarbrough (IL)
profile *''Follow the Money'' – Karen Yarbrough
20062004200220001998
campaign contributions
Illinois House Democrats – Karen A. Yarbrough
profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Yarbrough, Karen 1950 births 2024 deaths 21st-century American women politicians American anti–death penalty activists Chicago State University alumni Cook County Clerks Cook County Recorders of Deeds Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Northeastern Illinois University alumni People from Maywood, Illinois Politicians from Washington, D.C. Women state legislators in Illinois 21st-century members of the Illinois General Assembly