Ex-Prospect Hts. mayor, Ed Rotchford, dies

Edward Rotchford, whose accomplishments as the longest-serving mayor of Prospect Heights included working with Mount Prospect and Des Plaines to get flood control levees built along the Des Plaines River, has died.

“If not for Ed Rotchford and Gerald Farley (former mayor of Mount Prospect) and Tony Arredia (former mayor of Des Plaines), Levee 37 would not have been built,” said Dolores “Dolly” Vole, the city's most recent former mayor.

Vole was one of four people who unsuccessfully opposed Mr. Rotchford's re-election in 1995, but when she joined the council a few years later “he was very good to me as far as allowing me to get involved and go to Springfield and know what was going on,” she said Tuesday. “We always got along personally despite our political differences.”

Mr. Rotchford, who died Monday, was Prospect Heights mayor from 1991 to 2003.

Arredia said the three mayors “were a good team,” working together for three years and making at least a dozen trips to Springfield to meet with various agencies and officials to make Levees 50 and 37 a reality.

Mr. Rotchford was known for his tireless lobbying for the city, and is credited with bringing millions in federal and state funds for projects like the levee.

“He enjoyed the politics of Springfield and the inner workings,” said Greg Koeppen, who was an alderman part of the time Mr. Rotchford was mayor. “He had a lot to do with putting us on the map and making Prospect Heights what it is.”

Current Mayor Nicholas “Nick” Helmer agreed.

“He was a hardworking, well-meaning and to a great extent successful mayor of our city,” said Helmer. “I knew Ed pretty well because I was on the (Chicago Executive) airport board.”

Mr. Rotchford traveled to Springfield and Washington on behalf of the airport as well as the city, said Dennis Rouleau, manager of the airport owned by Prospect Heights and Wheeling

“Mayor Ed was a very strong supporter of the airport,” he said.

The city had 10 aldermen during Mr. Rotchford's tenure, “and he was able to get consensus on most issues,” said Helmer. Currently the city council has five aldermen.

Rodney Pace, who won the mayor's office in 2003 when Mr. Rotchford declined to seek another term, said Mr. Rotchford additionally proved his dedication to the city by spending almost a year as city administrator during his time as mayor.

A less-successful project that Mr. Rotchford favored was the so-called arena development, which never came to fruition and left the city with land probably not worth what is owed on it.

“The arena was ill fated to begin with,” said Helmer. “The promises were phenomenal: sales tax, development, more people, more gas sales, that sort of thing. He approached it with good will.”

In 1999, Gerald Anderson, an alderman off and on over recent decades, ran a write-in campaign for mayor and initially defeated Mr. Rotchford.

Anderson was mayor for just six weeks until a court threw out enough of the write-in ballots for him to lose the election. It was Mr. Rotchford's last run for mayor.

The two fought throughout Mr. Rotchford's final term, and Mr. Rotchford sued Anderson for defamation, eventually dropping the case.

Mr. Rotchford was alderman for six years before becoming mayor.

The family expects to announce funeral arrangements Wednesday or Thursday, Mr. Rotchford's wife, Carole, said Tuesday.

Mr. Rotchford was 77 years old. The couple, who lived in Antioch, have three daughters and a son.