Anthony J. “Tony” Batko, 81, of Chicago and formerly of Riverside, died Jan. 11, 2013.
Mr. Batko graduated from Northwestern University and served as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force for three years. He was the founding member of Vocab Inc., a publisher and developer of educational materials.
He was also very civic-minded, serving on the boards and as the president of the Chicago-Valentine Boys and Girls Clubs and the Union League Boys and Girls Clubs. For 12 years he was with the Citizens Committee for Employment, interviewing prisoners about to be released for possible employment.
In Riverside, he served a six-year term as a member of the Riverside Public Library Board of Trustees. He was also co-chairman of the Chicago Public Library Group, which formed a coalition that stopped the city of Chicago from locating the central library in an abandoned department store and influenced the construction of the Harold Washington Library.
Mr. Batko was a past president of the Union League Club and the Chicago Literary Club, and he was past director of the Caxton Club of Chicago.
He was the son of the late Anthony A. and Frances (nee Duratinsky) Batko; the husband of Alice Schreyer Batko and the late Susan Batko (nee Boyle); the father of Ann Batko and Ellen (Rich) Nolan; and the grandfather of Maclean, Nora, Evan and Lucy.
Visitation is Thursday, Jan. 17 from 4 p.m. until the time of a service at 8 p.m. at Donnellan Family Funeral Home, 10045 Skokie Blvd. at Old Orchard Road, Skokie. Interment is private.
Memorial donations are appreciated to the Union League Boys and Girls Clubs, 65 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, Ill. 60604.
