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Matthew Manger-Lynch was killed by an SUV on February 28, 2008, at the six-way intersection of Damen, Lincoln, and Irving Park. Tribune coverage is here and CBS coverage is here. The Chicago Cutting Crew have posted a few relevant articles.

[photo by gavin]

Matthew's obituary, as published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Manger-Lynch, Matthew Byram Born in Milwaukee on September 28, 1978. A tragic bicycle accident in downtown Chicago ended his full and promising life on February 24, 2008, at the young age of 29. He leaves to remember his too brief but accomplished and creative life, his wife Elizabeth, brother Luke, parents Barbara Manger and William H. Lynch, sisters-in-law Kathy Lynch and Megan Gleeson and her husband Brandon, brother-in-law Rob Gleeson, parents-in-law Dr. Robert Gleeson and Jane Gleeson, Uncle Robert E. Manger and Aunt Betsy Manger, cousins Dylan Manger and Fritz Manger, Aunt Cynthia Osowski, Aunt Jacquelyn Lynch and Uncle Bruce Lynch. Matt attended Roosevelt Middle School and graduated from University School-Milwaukee, WI 1996. As a youth Matt attended Camp Manito-wish and later worked there as a camp counselor. He was a dedicated saxophone player, participating in several groups, including four - years in the UW-M wind ensemble for high school students. Matt graduated from Macalester College, St Paul, MN 2001, majoring in anthropology. On December 18, 2003 he married Elizabeth Gleeson. He graduated from the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute, Paris in 2004. Matt began his employment at Barbary Fig, St. Paul, MN and continued at Le Grenouille in New York City and at Ambria in Chicago. He was a partner in Mandolin Catering in Chicago. Matt was a young man of great exuberance and many enthusiasms. His energy and passion for life and his creativity led him in many directions. He was an avid cyclist, fisherman, chef, Packer fan, wine collector, sausage maker and committed outdoorsman. He loved sailing, swimming, snowboarding, canoeing and cross-country skiing. His contagious zest for life affected everyone around him. He was a loving husband, brother and son. Visitation will take place on Thursday, February 28, 2008 at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, 7845 North River Road in River Hills, from 2:00 PM until 4:00 PM. A service in celebration of Matt's life will follow at the church at 4:00 PM. Interment will be private. In Matt's memory, memorials may be made to the YMCA Camp Manito-wish, Box 246, Boulder Junction, WI 54512, or to the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, 9 W. Hubbard ST, Suite 402, Chicago, IL 60610-6545.

Ryan Boudreau was killed by a truck in August 2007 at 18th and Clark.

A memorial page with more news articles is located here.

From Bike Chicago:

On January 5, 2006, 50-year-old Isai Medina was on his way home from work when he was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking his bike along the sidewalk on Western Avenue in Chicago.

Anyone who'd ever ridden on Chicago Critical Mass, along the lakefront bike trail in the summer, or through the streets of the Near West Side recognized Isai for his hand-built custom choppers; held together with bolts, painted in chrome, and tricked out with a dazzling array of sirens and lights. Isai traveled from one end of Chicago to the other on his choppers, and only on choppers, for which he was particularly revered as a true "Freak Biker for Life" by local freakbike clubs the Rat Patrol and the Scallywags.

Isai's death was by no means the first casualty of its sort - especially on wide, heavily trafficked Western, which drivers treat like an expressway, ignoring the presence of pedestrians and cyclists. But it was the first time in recent memory that someone so widely beloved across Chicago's bike community fell prey to the city's dangerous car traffic. The loss of Isai was enough to bring a broad cross-section of this community, from CCM organizers to freakbikers to bike lobbyists, together to start a long-overdue Ghost Bike project. It also brought together cyclists and members of the local Latino community, in which Isai was equally beloved.

Thus did Chicago's first Ghost Bike come to be a ghost chopper. On the January Critical Mass ride, the spectral white chopper was mounted on a bike trailer and towed through Chicago streets, ending up at the site of Isai's death at the northeast corner of Western and Cortez. Here the 400-rider Mass stopped for a few minutes, blocking traffic on Western while the Ghost Bike was installed, candles lit, and a moment of silence observed. But it wasn't long before police confronted the mourners. Despite our insistences that this was a memorial service, not a protest, and that we'd be moving on soon, four people were arrested for blocking traffic- even though they were standing on the sidewalk!

Since Isai's memorial, sadly there has been plenty to keep Chicago Ghost Bikes busy. There have been four more cyclists killed by cars, for whom four Ghost Bikes have been created and will soon be installed (learning from our tactical mistakes, we plan to install these individually or in small groups, then perhaps think about mounting a Ghost Bike Ride similar to New York's). And then there are all the past casualties we pledged to memorialize when Chicago Ghost Bikes started up. It's the kind of project you wish would make itself unnecessary. Yet once we started, we began to realize just how necessary this is in Chicago- a city with a huge, vibrant, and diverse bike community, whose members take our lives into our hands every day in the streets, where we are still invisible.

A video from a memorial ride is here