Engineer’s term as suburban mayor ended by judge’s ruling
Gerald Anderson was a Prospect Heights alderman who was elected mayor as a write-in candidate in 1999 and held office for 52 days before a judge invalidated some of his ballots and overturned the election’s results.
Anderson, 76, died of natural causes on Dec. 19 at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, said his wife of 45 years, Linda. A Prospect Heights resident for more than 40 years, Anderson had been battling heart and kidney problems, she said.
Born in Chicago, Anderson grew up on the North Side and in Oregon. Anderson served in the Air Force from 1964 until 1968 during the Vietnam War.
Anderson returned to Chicago to be near his mother and studied electrical engineering at Mayfair College, which now is known as Truman College, where he met his future wife. Anderson ultimately earned a degree in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Anderson worked an electrical engineer at Skil Power Tools and later at Motorola and Baxter. Anderson went on to start his own firm, Creative Science Activities, which he ran until retiring eight years ago, his wife said.
Anderson first became interested in municipal government after he encountered some opposition from Prospect Heights leaders over a brick driveway that he had installed, which city leaders had said was too wide.
“Jerry went to a City Council meeting to convince them it was OK so we wouldn’t have to pull up all the bricks,” his wife said. “They let him go up to the board and (show them a drawing), and he got them to (allow) it. And then all of a sudden, he got interested in why the politicians in the city do what they do.”
In 1997, Anderson ran for alderman from Prospect Heights’ Ward 4 and won. Anderson successfully fought proposals to bring Lake Michigan water to Prospect Heights and also to institute home rule, which would increase municipal leaders’ taxing powers.
In 1999, Anderson ran for mayor as a write-in candidate and won. The incumbent whom he had defeated, Edward Rotchford, sought a recount. Ultimately, a Cook County Circuit Court judge invalidated about 100 ballots that were filled out incorrectly and declared Rotchford the winner. A judge also declined to reinstate Anderson to his aldermanic seat.
“I can certainly hold my head up high,” he told the Tribune in 1999. “You don’t necessarily win every battle, but the war is not over yet.”
Anderson remained involved in municipal affairs, leading the charge to fight a referendum proposing a citywide sales tax increase in March 2000. The measure was rejected by voters.
Anderson ran again for alderman in 2001 and won a four-year term. After he won, city residents approved a referendum question to shrink the City Council, which eliminated Anderson’s seat after his term ended.
Anderson ran again for mayor in 2003 and 2007 but lost both times. Then, in 2009, he won election to fill out the remaining two years of an aldermanic seat that had been vacated.
Across Anderson’s many years of service and bids for public office, his wife said that what Anderson loved the most was talking with constituents.
“He loved the people. He had a gift of gab, and he loved talking to the citizens of Prospect Heights, and he also was out to support the people and let the people know what was going on,” she said. “He opened the lines of communication to the city.”
Former Ald. Carole Lujmovic, a longtime supporter and friend, said Anderson’s influence “was always … to better our community.”
“We’ll remember his printed words, his bike as he visited his constituents, his confidence and most of all his wit,” she said.
In addition to his wife, Anderson is survived by four brothers, Jim, Jeff, Doug and Pete.
Services are private.