I spoke with Mayor Tom Marcucci one morning and came away with a better understanding of him as a private citizen as well as of his vision for Elmhurst during his years in office.

When I asked him how he met his wife, he seemed surprised but happily told me.

“It’s kind of a funny story because both Mimi and I are Republicans, but we met at a fundraiser for Democrat Sargent Shriver when he was briefly considering a run for president in 1976. It seems that his supporters organized a dinner for 150 people at the Ambassador East Hotel. It was expensive, and they only had 30 or so people responding, so because they wanted a better turnout, they made an effort to get a lot of young people to attend.

“Well, Ethel Kennedy was involved in the same Catholic charity for disabled people that my Aunt Gloria Moroni was involved in, which is how I was asked to attend that fundraiser. At the last minute, I was asked to pick up a young woman named Mimi Madden. So that’s how it happened.”

I told him that I had met his wife’s mother, Margaret, at Chef Fest, and he responded, “Marge is a remarkable woman. She had 12 children, and her husband died at age 47. When someone came up to her and asked how she would manage with the 12 children at home, she said, ‘It’ll be OK. I only have 10 at home now.’ That’s the kind of person she is. The whole family is that way. They try to take life one step at a time.”

I was curious about his hobbies because once he is no longer mayor, he’ll have more time for them.

“I really miss sailing,” he said. “My friend, Jack Picchietti, had a 50-year-old wooden sailboat. I had never sailed before, but when he took me out, I fell in love with it. I helped him work on that boat, so that about 1986, it won Best in Show at the Chicago in Water Wooden Boat Show. I loved helping him restore it. We learned a painting technique that made the wood look as smooth as FiberGlas. Then, Jack, another friend, and I bought a 1965 Cheoy Lee Lion 36-foot wooden sailboat and had it for the next six years.”

Asked about the pluses and minuses of being mayor, he responded, “One of the things I realized after I was first elected was that I was no longer representing just my neighborhood but that I had to think about what is best for the entire city. It has been a lot of hard work, but it is gratifying to get things done, to effect change that protects property values.

“When I was first elected there was a comprehensive plan already in place, which had been approved by the previous City Council about revitalizing the downtown because in the 1980s there just wasn’t much happening there, and there wasn’t much in tax dollars being brought in. The plan consisted of creating a (tax increment finance district) for the downtown and using the TIF funds to make the area more attractive. It has been a successful tool used by other towns including Chicago, and it resulted in the creation of the City Center Plaza, pavered sidewalks and stone planters, among other things.

“Another part of the plan was to ring the downtown with condos and townhouses to encourage more foot traffic and as a result encourage more retail establishments to choose Elmhurst, which, in turn, would bring in more tax dollars and enhance property values. If you visit our downtown today, you will see that the plan has worked.”

He sighed a little then and added, “People for the most part have been supportive and appreciative of my efforts to make this change happen, but some of it has been frustrating because of the negative reaction of some of the residents. There are some who have called me a crook in front of my kids. They have said that the developer of Crescent Court Condos bought a condo for me. They’ve said the auto dealership gave me a Jaguar for approving a sign variation. I find these accusations not only untrue but shocking. It is amazing how quickly people will immediately attribute malevolent motivations if they disagree with you.

“Elmhurst is my town. I’ve lived here nearly all my life, and I have made decisions based on what’s best for our community.”

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