Late Metra executive director Phil Pagano was known as the leading force in turning Metra from a hodgepodge of badly run suburban commuter lines into one of the most admired transit agencies in the country.
Because of this legacy, people familiar with Metra responded to his Friday suicide - and the allegations of financial wrongdoing that preceded it - with amazement and disbelief.
Pagano, facing being fired and under investigation for improper use of public funds, took his own life by standing in front of a Metra train.
Pagano, 60, of Crystal Lake, stood between the rails as a southbound train approached at a crossing near his home, McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren said.
He looked into the face of the engineer before the train ran him down, Nygren said, adding that Pagano left behind a letter "indicating his intentions."
Pagano died about two hours before a scheduled Metra board meeting to discuss an investigation into his alleged financial improprieties. The hearing could have led to his dismissal.
Pagano also faced criminal investigations by the Cook County state's attorney and the Illinois attorney general's office.
Board members were told about the death as they were assembling for the meeting, which was canceled.
Member James Dodge, an Orland Park trustee, said: "I don't think anyone had a clue (that Pagano might be suicidal). I certainly had not heard of anything. It is a stunner, a shocker, to all of us."
Dodge said Pagano was highly respected nationally and "ran a good (commuter) rail agency. ... Phil was unusual in that he not only had the ability to run the day-to-day operations of a railroad, but that he had the ability to handle the politics of running a public transit system as well."
"It's very sad," board member Jim LaBelle said. "Phil was a force. He'll be missed."
Pagano had been with Metra for 26 years, almost since its creation, and was its executive director since 1990. He is credited with improving and expanding the rail service despite an increasingly tight budget.
Pagano was suspended from his post last week while the board investigated whether he had improperly taken $56,000 in vacation pay in advance, according to board member Jack Schaffer.
The inquiry had expanded to look at "more serious allegations of official misconduct," according to independent attorney James Sotos, who was hired to conduct it.
The board expected an interim report at Friday's meeting.
"There was no question he did it," said Schaffer, regarding the vacation pay. "There was a question whether he had proper authorization."
Pagano's wife was out of town Friday but was contacted by authorities. Pagano also was a father and grandfather, according to a board statement.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said no criminal charges will be filed in light of Pagano's death, but "we'll still investigate to see what happened" concerning the allegations against him.
On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin revealed that he asked the inspector general of the U.S. Transportation Department to investigate whether federal funds were misused at Metra.
At $269,625, Pagano's salary was among the highest in the country for mass transit executives. The head of the Chicago Transit Authority, which is a larger system, makes $193,431.
But Pagano lived in a modest home and did not use an agency car, instead choosing to take Metra to work.
CONTRIBUTING: MICHAEL SNEED, ABDON PALLASCH, SUN-TIMES MEDIA
RECENT POLITICALLY CHARGED DEATHS
Metra executive director Phil Pagano is the fourth Chicago-area man caught up in scandal to kill himself in recent years.
n On Nov. 16, 2009, Chicago Public Schools Board president Michael Scott, 60, shot himself along the Chicago River downtown. He had been subpoenaed as part of a federal grand jury investigation into how students were selected for the system's selective-enrollment high schools.
n On Sept. 12, 2009, Chris Kelly, 51, formerly of Frankfort, a close ally and major fundraiser for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, committed suicide by ingesting pills outside a Country Club Hills lumberyard. Kelly was set to start an eight-year prison sentence on his convictions for gambling-related tax fraud and a bid-rigging scheme at O'Hare International Airport that involved his Markham roofing company.
n In September 2007, Orlando Jones, 52, godson of former Cook County Board president John Stroger, shot himself on a Michigan beach. He recently had been approached for an interview by FBI agents about a case in Las Vegas.
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