Matt Siemer’s primary concern in life was how to be a good person.
“It’s something we’d talk about all the time. What do you do in life to be good? And how do you know what you’re doing is helping over the long run?” said his longtime friend Curtis Bozif.
Mr. Siemer found his niche at Mobile Care Chicago, a non-profit that turns old RVs into mobile medical units that provide care to underserved communities in the Chicago area.
He noticed one of the mobile units parked outside a school across from his Rogers Park home in 2012 and called that day to become a volunteer. He was soon hired on as a grant writer and eventually was tapped to lead.
Mr. Siemer, who served as executive director since 2018, died Dec. 13 in a car crash in Central Illinois. He was 43.
His wife, A.J. Barks, was also in the car and remains in intensive care with severe injuries.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help pay for medical expenses for Barks and funeral expenses for Mr. Siemer.
“This will sound cliche, but Matt was literally the nicest guy I’ve ever met in my life,” Bozif said. “He and his wife are such selfless individuals.”
Barks is the interim executive director of Chicago Women’s Health Center, a nonprofit that provides healthcare access to women and trans people.
At the time of the crash, the couple had recently returned from a vacation and were driving south to retrieve their two dogs, German shepherd mixes named Korra and Opal, from family members who boarded the pups while they were out of town.
“Matt was really just genuinely a good human and lived every part of his life with compassion and concern for other people,” said Kamari Thompson, Mobile Care’s associate executive director.
When he started at Mobile Care, the group had one mobile care unit. It now has four units that help more than 3,000 patients a year with a focus on asthma and dental care.
“He set out to do hard things and to have a laugh and a smile and a good time while doing them, and his legacy will live on,” Thompson said.
The nonprofit’s work was personal for Mr. Siemer.
“He spent a fair amount of time in the emergency room as a kid who had asthma,” said his sister, Marissa Siemer.
“We’re so incredibly proud of his work with Mobile Care and his leadership there,” she said. “He had this kind of amazing magnetic energy that would draw people to him. People felt seen and heard by him in a way that left them with a good feeling.”
Mr. Siemer was born in St. Louis on Oct. 29, 1982 to Mark and Pam Siemer; he was a salesman, she an educator.
Mr. Siemer attended Truman State University before earning a master’s in philosophy from Duke University.
He lived in Washington, D.C. and New Jersey and had worked in nonprofit grant writing before moving to Chicago in 2010.
Mr. Siemer, who worked up to 70 hours a week, loved board games, reading, throwing a frisbee with pals and walking with his wife and dogs.
“Most people are hesitant to say hello to strangers when you pass them on the street, but they’d go out of the way to say hello, and they were beloved in their neighborhood,” Bozif said.
A Mass to celebrate Mr. Siemer’s life is planned for Jan. 19 at 11 a.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Florissant, Mo. A memorial celebration in Chicago is in the works.