[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 16, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S266-S267]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING TOM WEISNER

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, Aurora, IL, is blessed with a long history 
of visionary leadership. The first public school district in my State 
was founded in Aurora in 1851. Aurora was a center of abolitionist 
activism before the Civil War.
  In 1881, Aurora, of Chicago's northwest suburbs, became one of the 
first cities in America to line its streets with electric lights, and 
people began to call it a City of Lights--Paris on the Plains.
  Sadly, last month, 2 days after Christmas, one of Aurora's brightest 
lights was extinguished. Former Aurora mayor Tom Weisner died after a 
long, brave, and public struggle with cancer. He was 69 years old.
  Tom Weisner spent his earliest years in nearby Batavia, IL. He came 
to Aurora in the 1960s to attend Marmion Military Academy. It was 
during his time at Marmion that Tom met his future wife, Marilyn Hogan, 
who was then a student at Marmion's ``sister school,'' Aurora Madonna 
High School.
  What a great pair. As a young couple in the 1980s, Tom and Marilyn 
served together in the Peace Corps, helping rainforest dwellers in the 
highlands of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. They were married for 
46 years.
  After finishing their Peace Corps service in 1986, Tom and Marilyn 
returned to Aurora, and Tom was hired by the city's then-mayor, David 
Pierce, to be Aurora's director of emergency services. Over the next 18 
years, he headed a number of city agencies, including the departments 
of motor vehicles, public property, and community services and 
organizational development.
  ``It was in his three terms as Aurora's mayor, from 2005 to 2016, 
that Tom Weisner left his greatest mark. His keen understanding of 
organizational efficiency, his commitment to public service, and his 
passion for children, for a vibrant, sustainable economy, for the arts 
and environment, and many other concerns helped to make Aurora a better 
place to live, own a business, and raise a family.
  There is one statistic that says a lot about the kind of leader Tom 
Weisner was: In his 11 years as mayor, Aurora rehabilitated 11 bridges. 
At a time when government at all levels is struggling and often failing 
to maintain basic public infrastructure, Aurora repaired 11 bridges in 
11 years. The strengthened bridges helped spur a rebirth of Aurora's 
downtown.
  The Fox River is one of Aurora's greatest economic and cultural 
assets. Mayor Weisner authorized the city's first long-term plan for 
the river. He oversaw the removal of a dam on the Fox River, which 
opened up space for bike paths and new commercial ventures, and he 
helped organize a regional coalition of communities to improve the 
southern portion of the Fox River.
  Tom Weisner championed new conservation and sustainability policies 
that made Aurora a greener city. At the same time, he supported changes 
that made it easier and faster to obtain city building and other 
permits.
  He oversaw the construction of a new police headquarters, with new 
tools and more resources, and crime in Aurora decreased.
  Children were a special concern of Mayor Weisner. Under his 
leadership, Aurora created a new program called SPARK to help children 
from birth to age 5 to prepare for kindergarten. SPARK stands for 
``Strong, Prepared, and Ready for Kindergarten.'' It is a collaboration 
involving Aurora's public schools and public library, the local United 
Way, and other groups. Nearly 5,500 children and their families have 
benefited from its services.
  Next year, a new Paramount School of Performing Arts will open and 
offer young people a chance to study under some of the best teaching 
artists and professionals in the country. Tom helped raise money to 
make this happen.

[[Page S267]]

  The DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference honored Tom in 2015 as its 
Governmental Leader of the Year. The American Public Works Association 
awarded him its Exemplary Service Award in 2017, the year after Tom 
retired.
  Tom Weisner's public achievements are even more remarkable, given the 
private pain that he and Marilyn endured during his years as mayor. In 
2006, they lost the younger of their two sons, Thaddeus, to 
complications of cerebral palsy. The following year, Tom was first 
diagnosed with colon cancer. He continued to serve the people of Aurora 
through two surgeries and long bouts of treatment. When his cancer 
became public, he used his own health challenges as a public service 
reminder, urging people to get colonoscopies and early treatment.
  In 2013, Aurora welcomed RiverEdge Park, a tremendous new waterfront 
open space and concert venue. Years earlier, when the Great Recession 
threatened to derail the project, Mayor Weisner helped ensure that it 
continued. In 2016, the Aurora city council voted unanimously to rename 
the park in Tom Weisner's honor. It is a fitting tribute to a leader 
who loved few things more than enjoying music in his city's parks, 
dressed in a brightly printed Tommy Bahama shirt and sandals.
  Loretta and I offer our condolences to Tom's wife Marilyn, their son 
Anthony, their two granddaughters, and to Tom's many friends.
  He ran the race, he fought the good fight. Now he is gone, but the 
light that Mayor Tom Weisner helped to bring to Aurora will continue to 
shine for a long while.

                          ____________________