James F. Conway (born June 27, 1932 in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

) was an American businessman and politician in St. Louis, where he was elected as the 41st mayor of the city, serving from 1977 to 1981.

Early life and education

Conway was born in 1932 in

, where he attended parochial schools. He attended

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

and received a B.S. in

geophysical engineering "Geoprofessions" is a term coined by the Geoprofessional Business Association to connote various technical disciplines that involve engineering, earth and environmental services applied to below-ground ("subsurface"), ground-surface, and ground-sur ...

, and an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

in Business Administration.

Careers

Conway worked as a sales engineer and production manager for the Nooter Corporation. Later he served as president of A.C.I Plastics Company. He had joined the Democratic Party and in 1966 he was elected as a state representative. He was re-elected and served more than one term. In 1974, he ran for and was elected to the

Missouri State Senate The Missouri Senate is the upper chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 34 members, representing districts with an average population of 181,000. Its members serve four-year terms, with half the seats being up for election every two yea ...

. Conway was determined to bring his expertise back to the city. In the March

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

Democratic

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

for mayor, Conway defeated former mayor A.J. Cervantes. He won the April general election by a large margin. Like many mayors of St. Louis, Conway found it difficult to accomplish some of his goals within the city's system of divided government. He and

comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...

Raymond Percich differed on interpretations of the City Charter, and their battles became quite heated, with numerous lawsuits and threats of lawsuits. Mayor Conway succeeded in getting voters to lift the $25,000 salary limit that had been contained in the city charter. Some saw the

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Seve ...

as a hindrance in recruiting and retaining highly qualified

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

s. The duplication of services at the two public hospitals in St. Louis (City Hospital and

Homer G. Phillips Hospital Homer G. Phillips Hospital was the only public hospital for African Americans in St. Louis, Missouri from 1937 until 1955, when the city began to desegregate. It continued to operate after Desegregation in the United States, the desegregation of c ...

) concerned Mayor Conway. His decision in 1979 to consolidate most hospital services at City Hospital was extremely unpopular with residents in North St. Louis, where Homer G. Phillips Hospital was located. In

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

, Conway was defeated in his bid for re-election in the Democratic primary by Vincent C. Schoemehl. After leaving office, Conway returned to his business, ACI Plastics, and remained active in civic affairs. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he and former mayors Vincent C. Schoemehl, Jr. and Freeman Bosley Jr. worked with a group called Citizens for Home Rule, which worked on various proposals to amend the city's charter. Conway is married to the former Joan C. Newman and they have five grown children. Their son Steven also became a politician; he was elected to the

St. Louis Board of Aldermen The St. Louis Board of Aldermen is the lawmaking body of St. Louis, an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. The Board consists of 14 alderpersons, one elected by each of the city's 14 wards. The President of the Board is a separate po ...

in 1991. After repeatedly winning re-election for several terms, in 2017 he was appointed by Mayor

Lyda Krewson Lyda Krewson (born November 14, 1953) is an American retired politician who was the 46th mayor of St. Louis, Missouri. She is a member of the Democratic Party and St. Louis's first female mayor, serving from 2017 to 2021. On November 18, 2020, ...

as City Assessor.

References

Much of the original content for this article was based on the brief biographies of St. Louis Mayors found at the St. Louis Public Library's website, https://web.archive.org/web/20041013215847/http://exhibits.slpl.lib.mo.us/mayors/mayors4.asp * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, James 1932 births Living people 20th-century mayors of places in Missouri Mayors of St. Louis Democratic Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives Democratic Party Missouri state senators Saint Louis University alumni