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Leon Despres, council foe to first Daley, dies
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Candidate
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| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Last Edited | Thomas Walker May 06, 2009 05:16pm |
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| Category | Obituary |
| News Date | Wednesday, May 6, 2009 11:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Leon Despres, a lawyer and civil libertarian who for two decades was the chief opponent of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley in the Chicago City Council, died this morning at his Hyde Park home. He was 101.
Despres was identified with civil rights causes for most of his public life. Before his election to the city council in 1955, he was general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, the nation's most abiding icon of liberal causes, and was chairman of the Independent Voters of Illinois.
He served five terms as a Chicago alderman representing the 5th Ward which covers Hyde Park and parts of surrounding communities. He did not seek re-election in 1975.
"A lot of people remember him for his time in City Council and his battles for a civil city with Mayor Richard J. Daley," said Kenan Heise, who collaborated with Despres on a memoir published in 2005. "But he probably spoke up on a thousand issues. He showed up. He never made any money on any of these things."
At City Council meetings, Despres rose to object whenever he thought Daley or his party cohorts were subverting the principals of fair play or playing political games, which was often. His stance occasionally provoked Daley into a red-faced rage.
"The machine does not love Chicago. It loves to feed on Chicago. It is Chicago's tapeworm,'' Despres said in remarks endorsing William Singer, then alderman of the 43rd Ward, in Singer's 1975 run for mayor against Daley.
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