Richard M. Daley

Richard M. Daley
Richard M. Daley
Daley in 2006
54th Mayor of Chicago
In office
April 24, 1989 – May 16, 2011
DeputyTerry Gabinski
Bernard Stone
Preceded byEugene Sawyer
Succeeded byRahm Emanuel
54th President of the United States Conference of Mayors
In office
1996–1997
Preceded byNorm Rice
Succeeded byPaul Helmke
State's Attorney of Cook County
In office
December 1, 1980 – April 24, 1989
Preceded byBernard Carey
Succeeded byCecil Partee
Member of the Illinois Senate
from the 23rd district
In office
January 10, 1973 – December 1, 1980
Preceded byEdward Nihill
Succeeded byTimothy F. Degnan
Personal details
Born
Richard Michael Daley

(1942-04-24) April 24, 1942 (age 82)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Margaret Ann Corbett
(m. 1972; died 2011)
Children4, including Patrick
Parent(s)Richard J. Daley (father)
Eleanor Daley (mother)
RelativesJohn P. Daley (brother)
William M. Daley (brother)
EducationProvidence College
DePaul University (BA, JD)
Signature

Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th[1] mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term. At 22 years, his was the longest tenure in Chicago mayoral history, surpassing the 21-year mayoralty of his father, Richard J. Daley.

As Mayor, Daley took over the Chicago Public Schools, developed tourism, oversaw the construction of Millennium Park, increased environmental efforts and the rapid development of the city's central business district downtown and adjacent near North, near South and near West sides. He also approved expansion of city workers' benefits to their partners regardless of gender, and advocated for gun control.

Daley received criticism when family, personal friends, and political allies disproportionately benefited from city contracting. He took office in a city with regular annual budget surpluses and left the city with massive structural deficits. His budgets ran up the largest deficits in Chicago history. A national leader in privatization, he temporarily reduced budgetary shortfalls by leasing and selling public assets to private corporations, but this practice removed future sources of revenue, contributing to the city's near insolvency at the end of his tenure. Police brutality was a recurring issue during his mayorship.

  1. ^ "Chicago Mayors". Chicago Public Library. Retrieved March 24, 2019.