Exhibit 99.1

                       [CFS BANCORP, INC. LETTERHEAD]

October 17, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Thomas F. Prisby, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
          219-836-5500

        CFS BANCORP, INC. ANNOUNCES THE RETIREMENT OF JOHN T. STEPHENS
         AND NAMES CHARLES V. COLE AS ITS NEW CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER.

MUNSTER, IN - October 17, 2003 - CFS Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: CITZ) ("Company"),
the parent holding company for Citizens Financial Services, FSB ("Bank"),
announced today, that John T. Stephens has announced his retirement as
Executive Vice President-Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer of Citizens
Financial Services, FSB and CFS Bancorp, Inc. effective January 2, 2004.
Mr. Stephens joined Citizens Federal Savings and Loan Association in April
1983 as Chief Financial Officer.  He was promoted to Senior Vice
President-Treasurer in October of the same year.  In 1986 he was elected to
the Bank's Board of Directors and promoted to Executive Vice President in 1993.

Mr. Stephens currently serves as a member of the Bank's Executive Committee,
Trust Committee, Asset/Liability Management Committee, and Loan Committee.
Mr. Stephens has served as Executive Vice President and Treasurer of CFS
Bancorp since its incorporation in 1998.  He has also served as Treasurer of
the Citizens Savings Foundation since its inception in 1998.

Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prisby stated, "Jack has been an invaluable member
of Citizens Senior Management team and has helped guide us through many
significant events in our history.  Our directors and officers express their
profound gratitude to Jack and his family for his service and wish him the
best in his retirement."

To succeed Mr. Stephens, Charles V. Cole of Frankfort, Illinois has accepted
the position of Executive Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Financial
Officer.  Mr. Cole has nearly twenty years of experience in banking and
financial management, serving most recently as Senior Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer at Advance Bank in Lansing, Illinois.  Mr. Cole has been a
Certified Public Accountant since 1984 and is a graduate of Northern Illinois
University in DeKalb, Illinois.  He is also a member of the American Institute
of Certified Public Accountants, the Illinois CPA Society, and the Financial
Managers Society.

CFS Bancorp, Inc. is the parent of Citizens Financial Services, FSB, a $1.5
billion asset federal savings bank.  Citizens Financial Services provides
community banking services and operates 22 offices throughout adjoining markets
in Chicago's Southland and Northwest Indiana.  The Company's stock trades on
the Nasdaq National Stock Market under the symbol "CITZ."

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