Theodore Thomas was

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

of the 15th ward in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

from 1999 to 2007.

Early life

Thomas was born in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, and raised in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. In 1969, Thomas moved to Chicago, and in 1984, he worked as an electronic equipment-repair technician for the

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

Public service

After graduating from high school, Thomas enlisted in the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the 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 origins to 1 ...

, in which he served 21 years. When Thomas moved to Chicago he joined

ACORN The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), en ...

(Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now), which works for social justice and stronger communities. As a member of

, he met all the aldermen and learned how the city worked.

Aldermanic career

Thomas was first elected in 1999. He decided to run when former Alderman Virigl Jones was convicted of corruption charges. There were 11 candidates in the race, but Thomas eventually won in a runoff. As a result of his progressive positions on local issues Thomas received the endorsement of public

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s, who also assisted his campaign by supplying poll workers on Election Day. After being elected, Alderman Thomas focused his efforts on revitalizing the neighborhoods in his ward by repairing streets, cleaning up vacant lots, and working with the 7th and 8th Chicago Police Districts to reduce street crime and improve relations with the community's residents. Despite a challenging economic climate, Alderman Thomas continued to establish and cultivate small business in the ward. In 2003, Thomas defeated

Bob Love Robert Earl Love (December 8, 1942 – November 18, 2024) was an American professional basketball player who spent the prime of his career with the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls. A versatile forward who could shoot with either ...

, a former member of the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

. In 2007, Thomas retired from the Chicago City Council for health reasons, and

Toni Foulkes Toni Foulkes is the former alderman of Chicago's 16th ward, and was formerly the alderman for the 15th ward. She is African American. Aldermanic career In 2007, Foulkes was elected Chicago alderman for the 15th Ward, winning an open-race to suc ...

, a community activist, ran for the aldermanic seat and was elected thereafter. Thomas counted a new public library and the Churchview Supportive Living Center as two major accomplishments as alderman. Thomas served on six committees: Budget and Government Operations; Committee, Rules and Ethics; Economic, Capital and Technology Development; Health; License and Consumer Protection; and Special Events and Cultural Affairs.

Personal life

Alderman Thomas is married to his wife, Hattie. They have five grown foster children and grandkids. In 2001, Thomas suffered a heart attack and stroke, and had to undergo bypass surgery; he made a full recovery.

References

1969 births Living people Chicago City Council members {{Illinois-politician-stub