The BGA lost a good friend this week. Dan Sprehe, our former chief investigator, passed away Tuesday morning from complications of diabetes. He was 32.

Dan worked at the BGA from 2004 to 2008 and single-handedly restarted the dormant Investigative unit. Dan managed the BGA’s website and was a founder of the Payroll Database, which has become the most popular section on the site. The BGA will greatly miss Dan.

Here is a sampling of Dan’s work at BGA:

BGA/ABC7 Investigation into Stickney

BGA Investigation into Chicago Alderman Violating Illinois Open Meetings Act

BGA/ABC7 Investigation into Cook County Sheriff’s Gambling on the Job

After the BGA, Dan worked for the City of Chicago’s Office of Inspector General, handling the agency’s website along with media inquiries. In the investigative realm, his technical and analytical expertise provided the IGO with critical support in mining information from city databases.

“I was thrilled when we were able to hire Dan at the Inspector General’s Office because I had been impressed with his work and reputation at the BGA,” former Inspector General David Hoffman said. “Dan was an excellent writer, had very good judgment, and — more than anything — was passionate about exposing abuse of the public trust by government officials.” Even when he was at the IGO, Dan always returned calls from BGA employees to help with questions or offer advice.

There will be a visitation from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 2, at St. Anne Church, 120 N. Ela St. in Barrington. A funeral mass will follow, with burial at St. Michael the Archangel Cemetery in Palatine.