Mary Ellen Guest

Mary Ellen Guest died peacefully on 20 September 2026, surrounded by her family, at the age of 71. WBEZ Chicago reported that she died from health complications following a fall; her son James wrote that she had battled a more serious illness for a few weeks after a years long decline from chronic conditions. The Chicago Bungalow Association announced her death to members on 1 October 2026, and deputy director Gillian Wineman became interim executive director. A memorial visitation and memorial Mass were held on 7 October 2026 at Old St. Patrick's Church in Chicago, cremation was private, and the family asked for memorial donations to the Chicago Bungalow Association. Arrangements were handled by Curley Funeral Home.

Mary Ellen Guest was born on 3 August 1955 to Ronald and Helen (nee Keane) Guest. Her father worked as a dispatcher for a trucking company. Her grandparents had emigrated to Chicago from Ireland, and her son later said she carried the immigrant's perspective of self sacrifice to advance the next generation. She grew up on the city's Southwest Side, attended the now closed Queen of Peace High School and earned an education degree from Chicago State University.

Guest entered politics in 1982 as a volunteer on Adlai Stevenson III's unsuccessful campaign for governor of Illinois, rising to head its campaign office. She worked on Richard M. Daley's unsuccessful 1983 run for mayor of Chicago and on his successful campaigns of 1989 and 1991, becoming known as the "Queen of the Phone Banks" for recruiting and organising hundreds of volunteers.

She moved into nonprofit leadership as executive director of Working in the Schools (WITS), a Chicago literacy organisation, and then of A+ Illinois, a coalition advocating equitable school funding reform.

She then became executive director of the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association, which Mayor Daley had created in 2000. WBEZ reported that she was hired in 2008; the association's own tribute says she joined in 2010 and led it for more than 16 years. She removed "Historic" from the name, reoriented the group around the families living in bungalows and expanded its scope to older homes of other styles. Membership, which is free, nearly quadrupled to more than 68,000, with growth focused on underserved communities on the South and West Sides. Working from the association's office in the Monadnock Building, she attended up to 80 community events a year to connect homeowners with energy efficiency programmes, contractors and funding sources. From 2016 she led the "Stop the Pop" campaign against second storey "pop top" additions, and she oversaw an expansion of National Register bungalow historic districts in Chicago.

Guest raised two sons, James and John (Johnny) Schulte, as a single mother in the Beverly neighbourhood of Chicago, and had two grandchildren, Jack and Mairead. She loved baking, took pride in her Irish heritage and enjoyed the South Side Irish Parade. She was survived by her siblings Cathy, Eileen, Tim and Patrick Guest.

Colleagues credited Guest with taking "the white gloves of preservation off", turning a group devoted to architecture into a practical resource for working class homeowners. Illinois Auditor General Chris Meister, a longtime friend, said she took pride in steering resources to working class neighbourhoods to preserve housing stock. The association said her legacy continues through the families she served, the neighbourhood relationships she strengthened and the staff and partners carrying her work forward.