Jeff Dela Cruz

Jeff Dela Cruz, Age 50. Beloved husband of Kathy nee Bate. Devoted father of Ashley and Sarah. Loving son of Constancio and the late Marita. Dear brother of Ramon (Natasha) and Mike (Aileen) Dela Cruz. Dear uncle of Alex (Sam), Emmanuel, Gabe and Noah. Fond Cousin of Rowelma and Bryan. All Services will be held privately.

Jeff was born and raised in Chicago. He graduated from Lane Tech High School and started working with US Customs. His work took him to Calgary, Canada where he met his wife Kathy. They married in the summer of 2000 and moved back to Chicago in 2002. They had Ashley (2002) and Sarah (2006) and built a great village of family and friends! Jeff was a great family man and a loving father and husband. He started as an Explorer before starting Custom Border Protection and was still involved with the Explorer program throughout his career sharing his love of law enforcement. He had many coworkers whom he considered his friends and lifelong family. He valued and treasured all of the times and extra activities he was able to join, including travel. Jeff was a very social, active man who was deeply involved with the Iron Warriors MotorCycle Club with his other love, his Harley! Ashley’s description of her dad is a badass, resilient, determined, brave, and friendly, which are all of the qualities that she wants to develop as she gets older, as they are the strong qualities instilled by her dad. “Dad taught me to never give up and never sweat the small stuff. He was the best dad that Sarah and I could have asked for. Dad is, was, and will always be my hero.” One of his favorite sayings was – “It’s a “crap” sandwich and we all need to take a bite out of it” AND “Don’t let yourself be a victim when facing obstacles.” Sarah’s description of her dad is strong, funny and caring. He always knew how to make people laugh and smile. He would always put others first and was full of love. One of his favorite sayings was – “You’ll be fine, there’s bigger “crap” in the world to worry about than this!”

In Lieu of flowers, memorial donations to The American Lung Association, https://www.lung.org/