During his many years as an executive at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Walter Ousley built a reputation as an innovative leader with progressive ideas and a willingness to run the organization in a business-like manner.
Catholic Charities, which serves hundreds of thousands of people in Cook and Lake Counties, is one of the Midwest’s largest private, nonprofit social service providers.
“His ideas (helped) expand the services of Catholic Charities to serve more and more people who couldn’t serve themselves,” said Ron Laurent, a Catholic Charities board member from 1971 until 2021. “That sounds poetic, but it’s true. And that’s why over the years he participated, his role grew. He really asked the best of himself and then he gave much more.”
Ousley, 81, died of natural causes on Sept. 26 at a Park Ridge memory care community, said his son, Peter.
Ousley, a Park Ridge resident for the past 30 years and a Calumet City resident before that, had been navigating Alzheimer’s disease, his son said.
Walter Herbert Ousley Jr. was born in 1945 in Chicago and grew up on the South Side. After graduating from Tilden High School, he attended the University of Maryland, where he got a degree in political science. Ousley later got a graduate degree from Roosevelt University.
Ousley enlisted in the Air Force in 1965 and he rose to the rank of staff sergeant, serving in Vietnam and later on Air Force One as crew chief. Ousley also received a presidential service award in 1971.
Following in the footsteps of his father-in-law, George Murphy, Ousley joined Catholic Charities after his military service ended. He immediately entered the management ranks, working as an associate division manager and then as a division manager.
Ousley managed government relations, programs that distributed food to the less fortunate and programs that helped mentor welfare clients back to work. He also led programs focused on addiction consultation education and drug addiction prevention.
In 1991, Ousley was promoted to be Catholic Charities’ director of operations. After he was promoted to chief operating officer in 2001, Ousley faced tight budgets and hard decisions about which programs to continue funding. He also worked to increase the group’s fundraising.
“There were issues every day, and Walter was an even-keel guy. … I almost never saw him get flustered,” said Bill Darcy, a retired Catholic Charities executive who worked for the agency from 1991 until 2010. “He was a solid leader. He’d seen most everything in his 30-plus years.”
Laurent said Ousley brought progressive ideas and “a sense of best business practices” to the organization.
“He knew that we were running a charity, but that we had to run it as a business; otherwise, we wouldn’t be in business long,” Laurent said. “That’s how he grew to become chief operating officer.”
Peter Ousley said his father enjoyed working in an arena “that was mission-driven, not motivated by a profit margin but by helping people.”
“You can measure that different ways, and being a military man, he did,” Peter Ousley said. “One way is the operating ratio, and the highest it was was around 3%. So at worst, it was 96% or 97% of your dollar that you donated that went to help people. And in general, it was using his very disciplined demeanor and military background and applying that to how they organized and delivered service to people with addiction, to the elderly and to all the people who were struggling in all the various ways. All the programs, including foster care and adoption programs, were really transformed during his time there.”
In measuring Ousley’s impact on Catholic Charities, Laurent referenced a quote from baseball great Jackie Robinson.
“Jackie Robinson, who transcended baseball (and) who helped make America a more just place, said … a human life should be judged on the positive impact (that) life has on others,” Laurent said. “And (Walter’s impact) was positive.”
After retiring from Catholic Charities in 2010, Ousley enjoyed golfing and dining out, his son said.
A first marriage to Lee Ousley ended in divorce. In addition to his son, Ousley is survived by his wife of 29 years, Joyce Craven-Ousley, and three grandchildren.
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Services were held.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.