BOURBONNAIS — Barry Jaffe, a longtime Kankakee-based businessman and member of the Kankakee River Valley Forest Preserve District, died this week.

Jaffe was also a former member of the Bourbonnais Park Board, previously heavily involved with the Kankakee County Training Center as a longtime board member, served on the Kankakee Planning Board and was co-owner of Jaffe Drugs stores.

Jaffe died Wednesday in Bourbonnais. He was 71.

A 1974 graduate of Purdue University, where he earned a degree in business, Jaffe was a graduate of Kankakee Eastridge High School.

Fellow forest preserve board member Amy Jarvis said it was an honor to have been able to call Jaffe a friend for many years.

“Once you got past his eccentric behavior, he was a generous person who cared about this community,” Jarvis said. “I’m going to miss him.”

Jaffe also served from 1983-89 on the Village of Bourbonnais’ park board.

Fond of politics, Jaffe twice sought to be a 6th Ward alderman on the Kankakee City Council but was defeated in the Republican Party primary by then-city council member Tom Cunnington and later by Nina Epstein.

Now a Kankakee County Circuit judge, Cunnington described the aldermanic race he had with Jaffe in the 1980s as “friendly.” He said they often discussed the race years later.

“He had a keen interest in politics both on the local level and state level,” Cunnington said.

He noted he was well aware of the health issues which Jaffe had been dealing with.

“Barry was a fixture in our community and in politics for many years,” he said.

Former two-term 6th Ward alderwoman and then two-term mayor Nina Epstein noted Jaffe’s love for Kankakee was never in question. She noted she and Jaffe grew up on the same block in Kankakee and then lived near one another in later years near the Kankakee Country Club.

“I am certainly sad to hear of his passing. The Jaffe family was so instrumental in the development of Kankakee,” she said.

Regarding Jaffe Drugs, the business was formed in 1926 by Barry’s father, Max. The company eventually had three locations.

While he worked for the family business for many years, it wasn’t until 1983 when he became a co-owner, along with his brother, Fred. He also held the title of vice president.

Jaffe certainly had a fondness for recreational spaces. After his tenure on the Bourbonnais park board — the organization was disbanded following the creation of the Bourbonnais Township Park District — he became a member of the Kankakee forest preserve board.

During his tenure from November 1989 through June 2004, he spent time as the organization’s president and as its treasurer. The forest preserve district, formed by a referendum in November 1986, owns and manages 464 acres within Kankakee and Aroma townships.

Mike Quigley, forest preserve president, noted his tenure, which began in 2000, overlapped Jaffe’s board tenure by four years.

He noted Jaffe often stressed to the organization to live within its means.

“He would always stress not to overspend. He was very careful with the public’s money,” Quigley noted. “He was a good board member. His heart was with this organization.”

Tom Small, executive vice president of the Small Newspaper Group, was a lifelong friend of Jaffe’s.

“Barry will always be vivid in my memory,” Small said. “He took great joy in life, in the simple things, like winning at tennis. What a fine athlete he was as a young man!”

Small noted Jaffe welcomed a competition of any kind, “but our friendship was based on what we had in common. We had fun together.”