Chicago broadcast legend Merri Dee honored with youth technology lab

CHICAGO (CBS) -- There is now a living memorial to a legendary Chicago broadcaster. 

The Proviso Leyden Council for Community Action (PLCCA) in west suburban Maywood on Wednesday dedicated its youth technology lab as the Merri Dee Youth Technology Lab.

Dee was a fixture on Chicago television for decades, spending nearly all of her career with WGN-TV, Channel 9 – first as a reporter and staff announcer from 1972 until 1983, and then as director of community relations until she retired from the station in 2008.

She died last march at age 85.

The lab named in her honor is designed to give underrepresented kids the tools they need to succeed in the fast changing tech world.

Dee's daughter said the lab brings together some of her mother's favorite things; including youth, empowerment, advancement, and friends and family. 

"The joy she would feel about this fabulous tech center for the community's youth would be off the charts. She would be proud that PLCCA is continuing to provide resources to young people that will open up so many more opportunities and possibilities for them," Toya Campbell said.

Dee was a longtime supporter of PLCCA. Before becoming a journalist, she had a career in technology, beginning as a salesperson at IBM in the 1960s.