William Beavers, a longtime Chicago City Council member who went on to serve as a Cook County Board commissioner, died Saturday morning, his family announced. He was 89.
Mr. Beavers died from “natural complications surrounded by his family,” according to a spokesperson for the family.
“Bill Beavers will go down in history as one of the most progressive African American alderman in the Chicago City Council,” Sean Howard, the family’s representative, said in a statement. “He was unapologetically Black and proved so by his countless efforts to propel Black businesspersons to engage in city business and contracts.”
Mr. Beavers would be especially proud of his support for Black entrepreneurs and advocacy to get more Black judges on the bench, Howard told the Sun-Times.
Mr. Beavers represented the 7th Ward on the Council for 23 years, until 2006, when he was elected commissioner representing Cook County’s 4th District. He held that seat until 2013, the year he was convicted of tax evasion and served six months in federal prison.
As alderperson, Mr. Beavers was chairman of the Budget Committee and the Police and Fire Committee. Before being elected to the Council in 1983, he served as a Chicago police officer for 21 years, according to the statement. He attended Harold Washington College when it was called Loop College.
Known as much for his style as his political power, Mr. Beavers was “an old-school caricature of a Chicago aldermen who loved patronage and contracts,” Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman wrote in a 2012 profile.
“Always dressed to the nines, Beavers bragged about ‘going to the boats’ to gamble, traveled to every Super Bowl and chain-smoked in the ante-room behind the City Council chambers — even though he suffered from phlebitis — long after smoking was banned at City Hall,” Spielman wrote.
Mr. Beavers famously wasn’t shy about touting his power in characteristically blunt and colorful fashion — right up to the end of his long political run.
“I’m still the same Beavers: the hog with the big nuts,” he told Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown in 2013 shortly before he was to be sentenced for tax evasion. Brown noted that Beavers made that declaration “with his characteristic deep-voiced chuckle.”
In 2013, a jury found Mr. Beavers guilty of failing to declare as income cash he took from his political campaign fund and county stipend. He used the money to bankroll huge gambling losses. Federal prosecutors had sought a 21-month sentence.
Mr. Beavers maintained that the feds put him on trial only because he had refused to wear a wire in an investigation of fellow County Board member John Daley. A federal judge later rejected his appeal.
Mr. Beavers was born Feb. 21, 1935, in Chicago and grew up in the Kenwood and Oakland neighborhoods. He was one of six children. His mom was an “outstanding cook” for their local church, according to Howard. His dad, a steel mill worker, died on the job.
In office, one of Mr. Beavers’ biggest accomplishments, Howard said, was creating subcircuit judicial districts that allowed Black lawyers to run for judgeships on the city’s South and West sides and the southern Cook County suburbs.
Mr. Beavers was instrumental in elevating Todd Stroger to the Cook County Board presidency in 2006 after his father, John Stroger, suffered a stroke. He resigned from his 7th Ward seat on the Council and successfully ran for county commissioner to support Todd Stroger, according to Howard.
He also made it possible for Black business owners to operate concessions at Midway and O’Hare airports, according to Calvin Jordan, a Cook County Democratic committeeman who was quoted in the family’s statement.
“The passing of Commissioner Beavers represents a significant loss for the African American business community,” Jordan was quoted as saying. “He was relentless in his firm approach to former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley of the need for more Black business people engaging in every facet of city government.”
Former Ald. Darcel Beavers, one of Mr. Beavers’ daughters, was appointed the 7th Ward alderperson by Daley when her dad moved on to the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 2006. She had served as his chief of staff. But her tenure was short-lived. She lost the seat the following year to Sandi Jackson.
In addition to his daughter, Mr. Beavers is survived another daughter, Denice Ewing; and son David Beavers, a retired investigator for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. Other survivors include a grandson, DeJuan Brown; and great-granddaughter, Dylan Brown.
