Nicole Hong/The Daily Northwestern
When Ald. Edmund Moran (6th) joined the Evanston Recreation Board in 1988, he had no idea it would prompt him to run for City Council.
“At the time, the city council wasn’t treating the recreation department very well, so I was kind of just pissed off,” Moran said. “I was reading the paper one Sunday, and I read in the Evanston Review that there was one week left to file your petition to run. I just said to myself, ‘Well, I’m going to run.'”
Eighteen years after winning the position in 1991,, the 62-year-old – the longest-serving current alderman on city council – will step down next month.
“He was very dedicated,” said former Ald. Stephen Engelman (7th). “He did it for 18 years. You have to have something special to do it that long.”
Determined voice on city council
Moran said he’s most proud of his contributions to the economic development of Evanston, including the passage of the Downtown Plan. He also advocated for outreach programs for Latino residents and pushed for a senior citizen handyman program.
Christopher Hart, a 6th ward resident who has known Moran for 15 years, doesn’t think the alderman “gets a lot of public glitz for the things he does.”
He added Moran is unafraid of taking the minority stance on controversial issues, such as Moran’s support of the 708 Church St. tower. Moran was the only alderman who voted for a lakefront marina, and he also supported an unpopular teardown ordinance that would have restricted the height of new houses.
“He had opinions on a lot of issues, and he wasn’t afraid to voice them,” Engelman said. “He was not afraid to stand up to criticism, and he was not afraid to vocalize an unpopular idea if he thought the idea was right.”
Public criticism has been tough to deal with, Moran said.
“It’ll sort of pile on, and it can get under your skin,” he said.
Notre Dame to new dad
Born in Chicago in 1947, Moran grew up in Oak Park, Ill., where he played three sports, wrote for the school newspaper and participated in the chess club in high school.
Before attending the University of Notre Dame, Moran met his wife, Judy, at a mixer. The couple married in 1971, two years after he graduated from Notre Dame with an accounting degree.
During Moran’s second year at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law, his wife became pregnant.
“It was impossible and crazy because we didn’t have any money,” Moran said. “I was driving a cab, I had a job at the law school, I did all kinds of crazy stuff. We were pretty poor.”
He graduated from law school and moved to Evanston in 1973. He served as an assistant Cook County public defender, a law clerk for a federal judge and an assistant Illinois attorney general. From 1970 to 1976, Moran was in the U.S. Marine Corps, Reserve.
Then Moran started his own law firm in Chicago, where he still works today. Balancing his aldermanic duties with his own practice has been demanding yet interesting, Moran said.
“I’ve had to make some sacrifices in terms of my law firm, no doubt about that,” he said. “But it’s fascinating work. I get bored fairly easily, so it’s like you’re in a rocket ship going through the universe, and there’s stuff going by.”
Despite the stress of two jobs, Moran always found time for family, Heaton said.
“My favorite memory of him is how we used to dance every night when he got home from work,” she said, laughing. “We’d turn on the music in the living room, and he would put me on his feet and show me how to dance.”
‘Firecracker’ to the end
Moran said he never expected to serve for so long, but has stayed because he thinks he was making an impact.
“The bottom line is you see that people’s lives are a little bit better because of what you did,” Moran said. “I didn’t want to be in a position where I would live here for 40 years and feel like I had no impact on the community.”
Moran’s constituents recognized his dedication and commitment to the city, said Engelman, noting Moran has easily won several elections in a row.
Even with retirement close, Moran still competes in squash tournaments every weekend. The former triathlon runner said he plans to keep an active lifestyle after he steps down.
Retirement won’t stop his “boundless energy,” said his daughter, Meaghan Heaton.
“He’s a firecracker,” she said. “I think he just wants to get every single drop out of life that he can and to give back as much as he can.”
Editor’s Note: The Daily will profile all three retiring Evanston aldermen before they officially leave their posts on May 11.
