As head of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority not as soon as, however twice, Jim Reilly oversaw a redevelopment of widespread Navy Pier and spearheaded efforts to construct an enviornment and resort close to the McCormick Place conference heart.
He guided the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees the CTA, Metra and Tempo, via transportation funds straights and the 2008 recession.
Reilly, who labored for many years in state politics and at Chicago transportation and tourism companies, died Monday. He was 77.
A Springfield native, Reilly graduated from the College of Chicago Legislation College and labored for the downstate metropolis of Jacksonville earlier than he turned a state consultant in 1977. Earlier than serving within the Illinois Home, Reilly additionally taught grade college in Winchester, Illinois.
He was chief of employees to former Republican Gov. Jim Thompson, and returned to the identical function throughout Gov. Jim Edgar’s reelection marketing campaign.
“He appeared to be a snug slot in making complicated tasks go from a behind-the-scenes function,” Thompson instructed the Tribune on the time.
As Edgar recovered from emergency quadruple-bypass coronary heart surgical procedure, Reilly was “a well-known and revered stand-in for the governor,” the Tribune reported in 1994. The Tribune described Reilly as “an administrator with a widely known contempt for inertia.”
Reilly was additionally in the course of the Nineties the chief government officer of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which owns McCormick Place and Navy Pier and oversees Chicago’s commerce present and conference enterprise. He led the company via an growth of the conference heart, the opening of the close by Hyatt Regency resort and a redevelopment venture that turned Navy Pier right into a vacationer attraction.
He returned to the company often called McPier as trustee in 2010, when state laws named him to steer a revamp of operations together with transferring the conference heart and Navy Pier to personal administration. He backed controversial labor rule adjustments that he later mentioned allowed the town to retain and convey new commerce exhibits, the Tribune has reported.
He turned CEO once more the next yr, and commenced efforts to construct what's now Wintrust Area and the Marriott Marquis resort that border McCormick Place.
Between these stints, Reilly headed the town’s conference and tourism bureau. Later, he was chairman of the RTA board because the area’s transportation companies sought to keep away from monetary doomsday. He helped keep away from the worst-case situation, and labored to plug an enormous CTA pension shortfall, mentioned Steve Schlickman, who was government director of RTA on the time.
“He was a man that was so nonpartisan in that place,” Schlickman mentioned. “He labored so simply with either side of the aisle, and he had nice relationships with Democratic management in addition to the Republican.”
Reilly led a consulting agency for a time and served on the boards of a number of organizations. He was most not too long ago trustee of McPier and a life trustee of Navy Pier, Schlickman mentioned.
Reilly had a deep appreciation for music and a dedication to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and rooted for the Bears, Bulls and St. Louis Cardinals, in response to a household obituary. He traveled extensively.
He additionally had a ardour for actual and mannequin trains, and loved exhibiting his practice community to his nieces and nephews throughout vacation gatherings.
“Jim Reilly lived life giant, was type and led a life stuffed with unimaginable accomplishments,” the obituary mentioned. “He devoted his life to public service. Beloved by his spouse and prolonged household, he gave his time, consideration and philanthropic help to a number of charitable and creative endeavors.”
He's survived by his spouse, Veronica Lynch.
Chicago Tribune’s Ray Lengthy contributed.
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