Eugene Sawyer Mayoral Records

Eugene Sawyer was born on September 3, 1934, in Greensboro, Alabama. While attending Alabama State University, Sawyer joined Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, worked as an intern with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.) and participated in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. During his summers, Sawyer travelled to Chicago to visit family and work with the Department of Streets and Sanitation. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1956 and briefly worked as a high school teacher in Prentiss, Mississippi. In 1957, he permanently relocated to Chicago.

Through family friends, Sawyer became involved with the 6th Ward Regular Democratic Organization and the Young Democrats. He built his political reputation in Chicago’s 6th Ward. In 1959, Sawyer took a job in Chicago’s Department of Water Management, and in 1968 began serving as 6th Ward Committeeman. In 1971, he was elected 6th Ward Alderman. During his tenure in the City Council, Sawyer served on the Finance Committee, the Budget Committee, as President Pro Tempore, Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Rules and Appointments and Chairman of the City Council Committee on Committees, Rules and Ethics.

Upon the sudden death of Harold Washington on November 25, 1987, the Council struggled to appoint a successor. Tasked with the selection of an Acting Mayor, the City Council was split between Sawyer and 4th Ward Alderman, Timothy Evans. Both men had worked with Harold Washington as City Council allies during his mayoral administration. After 19 hours of heated debate, the City Council elected Sawyer with a vote of 29-19 and two absent. Sawyer was sworn into office at 4:01 A.M. on December 2, 1987.

During his time as mayor, Sawyer worked to pass legislation supporting the installation of lights at Wrigley Field and the Clean Indoor Air Ordinance banning indoor smoking. Sawyer’s detractors had expressed concerns that he might work against Harold Washington’s political agenda because he drew support from many of Washington’s former political opponents in the City Council, but he built on groundwork laid under Washington and also championed the Human Rights Ordinance, passed in 1988, to protect individuals against discrimination. This was the first Chicago city ordinance to assert the rights of gay and lesbian Chicagoans. Sawyer also focused on homelessness, job training and business and economic development, continuing Mayor Washington’s efforts to boost women- and minority-owned businesses.

Sawyer mounted a campaign for Mayor in the 1989 special election. Cook County State’s Attorney Richard M. Daley defeated incumbent Eugene Sawyer as well as Sheila A. Jones and James C. Taylor in the Democratic Primary on February 28, 1989. Daley was sworn into office April 25, 1989.

After his term as Mayor, Sawyer retired from politics and entered private business, operating an energy company and a wholesale tobacco company. He also served as a Trustee and active member of the Vernon Park Church of God. Sawyer died on January 19, 2008, after battling illness for several weeks. He is buried in Oak Woods Cemetery.

His three children, Shedrick, Roderick, and Sheryl have continued his legacy. His daughter, Sheryl Sawyer McGill, began working for the City of Chicago in 1978 in the comptroller’s office. She held other positions in the Office of Budget and Management before becoming Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Human Services in 2006. Sheryl appears in numerous photographs in this collection, attending many events with her father. Sawyer’s son Roderick was elected Chicago’s 6th Ward Alderman in 2011.

In 2016, in honor of Sawyer’s beginnings in government in the Department of Water Management and his later contributions to the City, the South Water Purification Plant at 3300 East Cheltenham Place near Rainbow Beach, was renamed the Eugene Sawyer Water Purification Plant.