YORKVILLE, IL — Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert died at his home over the weekend of natural causes, Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell announced Monday.
The coroner's office did not provide an exact date of death or additional details.
"No further information is available for release," the office said Monday in a statement.
Hastert, a former Yorkville High School teacher and wrestling coach, served as House speaker from 1999 to 2007. He worked at the high school from 1965, after graduating from college, to 1981, when he entered politics.
RELATED: Admitted Child Molester Dennis Hastert Settles Hush-Money Suit
His political career, which included being the longest-serving Republican speaker of the House, was later overshadowed by revelations that he sexually abused teenage boys he coached. He admitted the abuse during his 2016 sentencing for illegally structuring bank withdrawals connected to hush money payments and was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin described Hastert as a "serial child molester."
As Patch previously reported, Hastert and one of his victims reached a tentative confidential settlement in 2021 over unpaid hush money.
Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell said her office was notified of Hastert's death at 10 p.m. Saturday.
Hastert, who was described by the judge in 2016 as "unquestionably a sick, frail man," was pronounced dead at his home in Plano while under hospice care.
"Following a review of the circumstances and consultation with hospice personnel, the Kendall County Coroner's Office determined that the death did not meet the criteria for Coroner jurisdiction," Purcell said. "... The attending hospice physician is responsible for completing the death certification, including determining and certifying the cause of death."
She said her office has no additional information on Hastert's death.
Hastert had lifelong ties to Kendall County, attending Oswego High School before working at Yorkville High School. In 2006, the Chicago Tribune reported that he lived on "a 127-acre homestead near Plano that includes farmland, a pond and woods, situated along a creek and adjacent to a private forest preserve."
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