Tom Yucuis, owner of a restaurant in Lake in the Hills, and an East Dundee resident, tragically struck by 3 vehicles in Kane County: Exclusive interview with locals

In Lake in the Hills, Ill., a well-known restaurant owner was hit and killed by three vehicles, leaving the northwest suburban community in mourning.

Tom Yucuis, the owner of the beloved Butcher on the Block in Lake in the Hills, was remembered by his family as a kind and loving man who played a significant role in their community.

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Yucuis would have turned 70 this year and his shop would have marked its 25th anniversary, but now the community is coming together to honor the man who had become a staple at their dinner tables for generations.

The 69-year-old East Dundee father and grandfather died after multiple vehicles hit him Monday morning in Dundee Township, the Kane County Sheriff’s Office said.

The sheriff’s office responded just before 6 a.m. to Route 31 near Miller Road for a report that multiple vehicles had hit a pedestrian in the roadway. When police arrived, Yucuis was dead on the scene.

Witnesses said the man was walking in the southbound lanes of Route 31, wearing dark clothing, when a Chevrolet Cruze, a black Acura sedan and a grey Cadillac sedan hit him. The vehicles were driving south on Route 31, police said. They all stopped to help and called 911, police said.

A memorial was growing Thursday night outside Yucuis’ Lake in the Hills restuarant.

“Everywhere I look, it’s him,” said Jill Yucuis, Tom Yucuis’ wife.

What made the beloved Butcher on the Block wasn’t just his signature cuts or sandwiches, but his signature smile he gave to anyone who walked into his Lake in the Hills shop.

“If you met him, he touched you. Somehow, someway in some form,” said Brynn Zimmerman, Tom Yucuis’ daughter. “There are people who meet him for the first time and they fell in love with him. They feel like they can tell him everything.”

Yucuis was a butcher by trade, but his life’s currency was his family.

“He just loved talking to people all the time,” Jill Yucuis said.

“He always told me he was proud of me. Always,” Zimmerman said. “And I’m going to miss him telling me that. I will miss him.”

Yucuis also treated his customers like family.

“We would always chat and we’d block the doorway for five, 10, 15 minutes,” longtime customer Andrew Bender said. “And he’d have a line of people wanting to say hi to him.”

His loss is felt deep within the community he served.

“That’s what this place is to many in this area, it’s a place to come in and be treated like family,” longtime customer Greg Zuleger said.

There is now a growing memorial from the community he built within the business he built and the family that continues to grow from his legacy.

“I know that he would not want this place to falter based on him leaving, and so that is what is going to keep me going and keep me strong and keep this going for him,” Zimmerman said.

Yucuis’ daughter said she has some big shoes to fill taking over his shop, but continuing his legacy through his work there will be one of her greatest ways to pay him tribute.

No citations have been issued in the crashes involved in Yucuis’ death as the investigation continues.