Aurora celebrates life, career of former Mayor Weisner

Colleagues, friends and relatives shared memories of former Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner at a public memorial service Monday at the Paramount Theatre.

The venue was appropriate because Weisner championed the revitalization of the theater in the early 2000s as a vital part of improving the city's downtown.

"He and (wife) Marilyn were the first subscribers to the 'Broadway Series,'" a choked-up Jim Corti, the theater's artistic director, told the crowd at the nearly two-hour service. That series, featuring the theater's own productions of large-scale musicals, has increased attendance and won prestigious Jefferson Awards.

Weisner died Dec. 28, at age 69, from complications due to treatment of colon cancer he had battled since 2007. He served as mayor of the state's second-largest city from 2005 to 2016.

Corti was among the speakers addressing several hundred people who gathered to remember Weisner and celebrate his life.

Mayor Richard Irvin recalled standing on the Paramount stage with Weisner as they squared off in a debate during the 2005 mayoral race.

Irvin, who was elected in 2017, said Weisner created the foundation on which he now stands. He ticked off projects Weisner pushed, including having fiber-optic cable installed throughout the city, urging the state to build an I-88 interchange at Eola Road, installing water-conserving rain gardens, working with Waubonsee Community College for a new downtown campus, building a new central Aurora Public Library, and the development of RiverEdge Park, which now is named in his honor.

Lulu Blacksmith, a Waubonsee dean who used to be press secretary to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, spoke about Weisner's involvement with the city's Hispanic community, especially at the annual health fair put on by Companeros de Salud.

Weisner always attended, Blacksmith said, but he didn't speak Spanish, so he started bringing his wife, Marilyn, who did.

"Imagine how special the participants felt when the mayor of Aurora and the first lady took the time" to speak with them, Blacksmith said.

Laughs were shared. A cousin recalled the grief Weisner took from adults when, as a child, he gave a female cousin a baseball mitt as a present for her First Communion.

His love of boldly printed Hawaiian-style shirts was mentioned, as was his self-proclaimed title of "grillmaster extraordinaire." His long, long annual addresses to the Aurora Area Chamber of Commerce led friends, including John Savage, to wear stickers that said "I Survived the State of the City Address."

"He hated to eat outside of Aurora. He would only eat at Aurora restaurants - no matter how bad they were," said Savage, president of the Aurora Library board.

Weisner also was remembered for his devotion to his sons, Thaddeus and Tony. He and Marilyn also mentored a young widow and her children in the wake of the father's death.

"One man can inspire and ignite a community," Irvin said. "For Aurora, that man was Tom Weisner."