Randy Hopp, a former Gail Borden Public Library District trustee who was trying to return to the board in the April 1 election, has died from injuries he received after being struck by a car in December.
Hopp, 73, whose troubled behavior led to him being banned at several libraries and convicted of the theft, died Feb. 25 and was buried Tuesday in the Bluff City Cemetery in Elgin.
Hopp served on the library board from 2009-13 but was unsuccessful in his subsequent attempts to be reelected. Board members were to hold a moment of silence in his memory at their Tuesday night meeting.
“Randy had his struggles, but he always had the best interests of his community at heart,” current library board Trustee Joy Symonds said. “In his own way, he worked to make government better.”
Symonds said she witnessed the Dec. 10 accident in which Hopp was injured. He was crossing Kimball Street en route to a library board meeting, which he frequently attended, when he was struck by a car, she said.
He was taken to Ascension St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin and later transferred to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood to be treated for a traumatic brain injury, Symonds said. When she and her husband, Dan, who own the Symonds-Madison Funeral Home in Elgin, learned that Hopp was estranged from his family, they stepped in to serve as his health care surrogates, she said.
“We knew nobody else would do it and worried he’d be all alone,” Symonds said.
Two attempts to have Hopp moved to a rehabilitation facility didn’t work out and he was eventually transferred to Endeavor Health Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights and later to The Vines Senior Homes in Elgin, where he received hospice care, she said.
Hopp was born and raised in Elgin, graduating from Elgin High School and studying metallurgical engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, according to his obituary. He was preceded in death by his parents, LeRoy and Nola Hopp, and had been living in his parents’ home prior to the December accident.
Symonds and her husband arranged for Hopp’s funeral services and burial.
Hopp led a sometimes troubled life, and his behavior led him to be banned from the Gail Borden Public library in 2000 and again from 2009-13 as well as at other places, including the libraries at Judson University and Elgin Community College and at a now-closed bank in Carpentersville, according to published reports.
In March 2011, Elgin police were called to the Hopp residence for a domestic dispute where it was alleged that Hopp had hit his elderly parents but the case did not go to trial.
In April 2017, police found hundreds of stolen campaign signs at Hopp’s home, which led to theft charges. He was convicted and sentenced to 14 months of conditional discharge and ordered to work 10 days in the Cook County Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program.
Symonds, who has been on the library board since 2021, said Hopp always attended meetings, taking notes and often speaking during the public comments.
“Randy was always kind to me and my husband, Dan,” she said. “Despite his faults, Randy was a human being who deserved love, dignity and respect in his final days. … I am hopeful that he is now free of the struggles that weighed him down on this Earth.”
Denise Raleigh, Gail Borden’s director of development, said Hopp was dedicated in his concern for the library.
“I have known Randy for many years. I was always impressed with how much he cared about the Gail Borden Public Library,” she said.
Hopp is one of five candidates for three seats on the library board in April. Should he win one of them, the library board would have to declare a vacancy and appoint someone to fill the post until the 2027 election, Raleigh said.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.