Casimir "Casey" Laskowski was an American politician and mortician who served on the

Chicago City Council The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the Law and government of Chicago, government of the Chicago, City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 Wards of the United States, wards to serve four-year t ...

for 24 years.

Early life and education

Laskowski was born to immigrants from

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Laskowski attended

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

. He received his mortician's license. Known for his musical skills, he also studied at the

American Conservatory of Music The American Conservatory of Music (ACM) was a major American school of music founded in Chicago in 1886 by John James Hattstaedt (1851–1931). The conservatory was incorporated as an Illinois non-profit corporation. It developed the Conservat ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he served as a lieutenant colonel in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

City Council career

Laskowki was elected to the Chicago City Council in 1955. In his first campaign, he tied himself to Ben Adamowski. Adamowski ran an outsider campaign for the Democratic nomination in the

1955 Chicago mayoral election The 1955 Chicago mayoral election saw Democrat Richard J. Daley win election to his first term as mayor by a ten-point margin over Republican Robert E. Merriam. This was the narrowest margin of victory of any of Daley's mayoral races. Daley ...

, ultimately losing to

Richard J. Daley Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Chicago from 1955, and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party from 1953, until his death. He has been called "the last of ...

. His decision to side with Adamowski over Daley, the establishment candidate, earned Laskowski the nickname "The Rebel". After winning election to the City Council, Laskowski made an unsuccessful attempt to take control of Democratic Party power in the 35th ward from

City Clerk A clerk (pronounced "clark" /klɑːk/ in British and Australian English) is a senior official of many municipal governments in the English-speaking world. In some communities, including most in the United States, the position is elected, but in ma ...

John Marcin. After this, however, Laskowski became largely aligned with the city's Democratic

machine A machine is a physical system that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromol ...

. Laskowski's ward was located in a heavily

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

neighborhood on Chicago's Northwest Side. He belonged to the City Council's "Polish bloc". In 1976, this bloc voted together in the deciding votes which established a vice mayor position to resolve uncertainties about mayoral succession in the city. Laskowski was made the inaugural vice mayor of the city. The position, largely honorary, meant that he would have served as acting mayor if the mayoralty had become vacant. For years, Laskowski chaired the City Council Aviation Committee. He was an early and strong proponent of building a south suburban airport. In 1979, Ward party boss John Marcin, who had not been slated by the Democratic Party for reelection as clerk, challenged Laskowski for his City Council seat and defeated him. Laskowski and Marcin had previously, for a long time, been political allies. Laskowski was blindsided by Marcin's move to run against him. He attempted to hurt Marcin's candidacy by disclosing that Marcin's functional primary residence was not his humble apartment in the ward, but rather, was a mansion in the Lake County suburb of

Antioch, Illinois Antioch is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 14,622. The village is nestled into the Chain O'Lakes waterway system and borders the state of Wisconsin. Part of t ...

Personal life and other activities

Laskowski was a licensed mortician. He founded and owned Casey Laskowski and Sons Funeral Home in the Kelvyn Park neighborhood. He and his family lived above the funeral home. He and his wife, Virginia, had three children. He served as the president of the Polish American Businessmen's Club. He also served on the John Barry School Board. He was also a member of the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

AMVETS American Veterans (AMVETS) is a non-partisan, volunteer-led organization formed by World War II veterans of the United States military. It advocates for its members as well as for causes that its members deem helpful to the nation at large. The g ...

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic Church, Catholic Fraternal and service organizations, fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney, Blessed Michael J. McGivney. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. ...

, LaFourths Association, Lafayette Council #361, Funeral Directors Service Association, I.F.D.A., N.F.D.A., Chicago Society P.N.A., and P.L.A.V. Laskowski died of complications from a heart surgery on August 15, 2003, at the age of 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laskowski, Casey Chicago City Council members 2003 deaths American politicians of Polish descent DePaul University alumni Vice mayors of Chicago