Born and raised in the City of Kankakee, Dave Baron was a member of Bishop McNamara High School’s Class of 2002. He went on to graduate from the University of Notre Dame in 2006 and Harvard Law School in 2009. After beginning his legal career at the international firm of Sidley Austin LP, Dave worked for the City of Chicago Law Department, focusing on constitutional challenges to the City’s ordinances and regulations. Aside from lawyering, Dave researched and authored Pembroke: A Rural, Black Community on the Illinois Dunes, published in 2016 by SIU Press and documented the remarkable history of the community in southeastern Kankakee County.  

Dave returned home to Kankakee in 2017 to begin working for the Kankakee firm of Deck & Baron, where he advises mid- to small-sized companies and individuals on a variety of civil matters. He serves on the Board of Directors of several organizations including Riverside Medical Corporation, Kankakee Community College Foundation, Kankakee Development Corporation, Kankakee Riverfront Society, and Kankakee County Convention and Visitors Bureau, and in 2021, he was elected to represent Kankakee’s 2nd Ward on the City Council.  Dave lives in the Riverview neighborhood with his wife Anya and their two sons, Remy and Theo.