Chicago native and University of Illinois College of Law graduate Brian Sleet (Class of 2005) has died. Sleet, a political consultant, lawyer, and well-known community activist, was only 41 years old.

He grew up in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago and graduated from Whitney Young Magnet High School in 1996. He studied sociology at Dartmouth College before obtaining his law degree at Illinois.

Sleet was most recently working at Kivvit, where he specialized in stakeholder outreach, community engagement, land use and public affairs strategy. Prior to his time at Kivvit, Sleet managed Kim Foxx's campaign for State's Attorney. He also served as a senior advisor to Alderwoman Sophia King, a senior advisor to Kennedy for Illinois and a chief of staff to Alderman Roderick T. Sawyer, chair of the Black Caucus. 

Upon the news of his untimely death, tributes to Sleet and his legacy began pouring in on social media, to the extent that #SleetisChicago became a trending topic on Twitter in the state of Illinois. 

In honor of his legacy, Sleet's family and friends have created the Brian Sleet Memorial Fellowship for Leadership and Advocacy, which will fund political advocacy and organizing training programming for students at Whitney Young High School, Brian’s alma mater.

Read the Chicago Tribune tribute and obituary.

Read the Sun-Times tribute and obituary.