Beverly Resident and Tylenol Reporter John Rooney Dies of ALS at 56

John Rooney

Chicago, IL -- He broke one of the biggest news stories of the 20th century yet it was how he lived the end of his life -- with courage and humility -- for which he’ll be remembered.

John Rooney, 56, a veteran Chicago journalist, passed away Thursday from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- the same disease that claimed the lives of his mother and aunt -- after a three-year battle. He was 56.

Rooney was a long-time Beverly resident and continued to cover the city's legal beat for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin even as ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, claimed his mobility and speech.

As a 27-year-old reporter working for the storied City News Bureau in the fall of 1982, Rooney was the first journalist to link four deaths -- including a 12-year-old girl -- to cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules. Rooney broke the story that caused a nationwide panic and unprecedented product recall. Eventually three more people would die before the Tylenol products could be recalled. The crimes remain unsolved today.

Rooney won a Lisagor Award and the Chicago Bar Association’s Herman Kogan Award for his coverage on the Tylenol murders.

His son, Tim Rooney, told the Sun-Times how his father connected the poisoning deaths at the old Chicago Police Headquarters.

“He was at 11th and State. He got a tip from a nurse there was a connection” between the poisoning deaths, his son said.

Rooney was a graduate of Marist High School. He went on to study communications at Loyola University and earned a master’s in public affairs at University of Springfield. After tints at City News and the Tampa Tribune, he joined the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, where he spent the last 27 years.

Colleagues recalled Rooney as a dogged, trustworthy, ethical and tenacious reporter, “the kind you could trust with your wallet, your watch and your story,” federal appellate Judge William J. Bauer told the Sun- Times.

During the summer of 2014, after he had been diagnosed with ALS, Rooney and his family participated in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

In an editorial for Life Matters Media, Rooney described himself as “the face of ALS” and said he was first family member of his generation to be diagnosed with the fatal disease. He spoke of how the disease claimed his mother and aunt.

His mother, Mary Flynn Rooney who passed away in 2000, he said, “is a model for my dying.”

“If possible when the time comes, I want to experience a ‘good” death,’” Rooney wrote. “What I mean is that I don’t want it to be at hospital or nursing facility”

Rooney died Thursday morning in his West Beverly home Thursday morning, surrounded by his family.