While working as a detective in the Chicago Police Department in 1994, Scott Keenan was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo major neck surgery.
Mr. Keenan, who investigated violent crimes against women and children, was given a choice: a surgery that would allow him to keep his voice but require him to use a feeding tube, or a surgery that would allow him to eat through his mouth but strip him of the ability to speak clearly.
“The choice was clear, the decision plain and simple,” said his wife, Kathleen. “He wanted to continue his work, and for that he needed his voice.”
Following his surgery, Mr. Keenan came off the street and started as an analyst in the detective department, conducting sexual assault training programs to help better prepare detectives for interviewing victims.
Mr. Keenan, 67, died Sunday, Nov. 16, in his Oak Park home.
After retiring from the Chicago Police Department in 2003, Mr. Keenan was the chief operating officer at the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center, where he had been volunteering as a founding member since before it opened its doors in 2001.
“Scott was one of those rare people who truly understood what it meant to be an advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves,” said Dr. Michele Lorand, medical director at the center. “He was a thinker and a talker.”
At the center, Mr. Keenan’s responsibilities included oversight of its social services, as well as court and family advocacy programs; transportation and logistical matters; and the research and policy department.
“He knew how to get people to work together for the best interest of child victims of sexual abuse,” Lorand said. “He thought outside the box and did it all with a sense of compassion and professionalism that will never be forgotten.”
Mr. Keenan left the center in 2007, after he began experiencing difficulty speaking.
“Scott was a kind, caring and generous person,” said Susan Hogan, Mr. Keenan’s successor as the center’s chief operating officer. “He devoted years of his life to helping in the investigation and caring treatment of thousands of children, all victims of abuse, both with the CPD and at our center. It was an honor to have known him.”
Born in Chicago and raised in Oak Park, Mr. Keenan attended St. Edmund School. He later graduated from St. Bede Academy, a private boarding school in Peru, Ill., and then served for four years in the Army.
He joined the Chicago Police Department in 1971 and rose through the ranks to become a detective in 1978. Two years later he was assigned to the Violent Crimes Unit.
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In a 1989 Tribune story about whether convicted rapists could be helped through therapy , Mr. Keenan expressed frustration with a system that saw such a high level of recidivism and his desire for tougher sentences to protect victims.
“There’s a litany of offenders I’ve arrested for rape after they’ve gotten out (of prison) for rape,” Mr. Keenan told the Tribune. “It’s enormously frustrating for us and it’s terrifying for the victim. It’s like, ‘Why am I doing this?’ (In a burglary case), the insurance company can pay for the (stolen) VCR. The insurance company can’t pay for a rape victim.”
Other survivors include two stepsons, Brian MacDonald and Thomas Hopkins; a stepsister, Patricia Fiorini; and three stepgrandchildren.
Services were held.