Friends and community members will gather next week to remember the life of Theodore G. “Ted” Huber, whose own hearing loss ignited an advocacy for the deaf and hard of hearing in Jacksonville and worldwide.

Huber died Thursday in Chatham. He was 86.

The longtime South Jacksonville resident was born in Arkansas City, Kansas, and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Emporia State College and a master’s degree in deaf education from the University of Kansas.

He taught at Rochester School for the Deaf, a private, tuition-free school for deaf and hard of hearing students in Rochester, New York, and in 1965 became the audiologist at Illinois School for the Deaf. His wife, Linda, taught at ISD and later was a teacher and diagnostician at Four Rivers Special Education District. She died in 2008.

Huber found his passion in working to improve the lives of others who were deaf or hard of hearing, and in 1991 was given the Illinois Association for the Deaf’s Meritorious Service Award for his service.

He was on the state association’s board, as well as those of the Illinois Telecommunication Access Program, Illinois Technology Assistance Program, Jacksonville Community Center for the Deaf and Elm City Rehabilitation Services. He volunteered time with Jacksonville Area Center for Independent Living and with the In His Service ministry.

Besides helping to see the creation of ASL Hospice/ASL Cares — a partnership between JACIL and Jacksonville Community Center for the Deaf to provide accessible end-of-life and hospice care for the deaf and hard of hearing — Huber was an advocate for efforts to have captioning provided for public venues and events.

He also was part of the Jacksonville Mayor’s Text Action Group that ushered in text-to-911 service in the city. He often advised the Illinois Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and traveled several times to Haiti to assist with classes in deaf education.

Visitation will be from 9 to 11 a.m. Aug. 15 at Williamson Funeral Home in Jacksonville. Funeral will be at 11 a.m. Aug. 15, followed by burial in Diamond Grove Cemetery.

Memorials may take the form of donations to Jacksonville Community Center for the Deaf or The James Project in Springfield.