Edwin Eisendrath

American politician

Edwin Eisendrath

Member of the Chicago City Council from the 43rd ward
In office
1987 (1987) – 1993 (1993)
Preceded by| Martin J. Oberman
Succeeded by| Charles Bernardini
Personal details
Born|  (1958-02-03) February 3, 1958 (age 67)[1]
Chicago, Illinois
Political party| Democratic
Spouse|

Jennifer Schulze

(m. 1994)​

Children| Three
Residence| Chicago, Illinois
Alma mater| Harvard University (B.A.)
National Louis University (M.A.)

Edwin Eisendrath (born February 3, 1958)[1] is former CEO of the Chicago Sun-Times and former alderman of the 43rd ward of Chicago (Lincoln Park area).

## Early life

[edit]

Edwin Eisendrath III was born into a Jewish family,[2] the son of Edwin W. Eisendrath Jr.[3] and Susan Rosenberg. His father was an attorney and his mother came from a powerful West Side political family.[4] Eisendrath's younger brother is television producer and writer John Eisendrath.[5] Eisendrath's parents divorced when he was a child (in 1970), and his mother married Lewis Manilow.

Eisendrath was raised in the East Lake View neighborhood of Chicago. After graduating from Harvard University, he taught in public schools in both Appalacia and later Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood.[4] In 1983, he earned a master of arts in teaching at National Louis University.[6]

## Chicago City Council

[edit]

In 1987 (at the age 29), Eisendrath successfully ran to succeed the retiring Martin J. Oberman as alderman (city councilor) in Chicago's 43rd ward. The race between him and attorney Robert Perkins was dubbed by observers as the "Battle of the Blue Bloods", as both young candidates came from wealthy and well-connected families.[4][7] Eisendrath raised $225,000 for her campaign, and his campaign spent what was at the time an all-time record amount for a Chicago City Council campaign. As a candidate, Eisendrath's platform focused on city finances and school reform. He promised that he would be neutral in the Chicago Council Wars, not joining either of the council's warring political factions. He was described by the Chicago Tribune as positioning himself to be a "Lakefront independent".[8] He was re-elected in 1991.

Eisendrath backed the Chicago School Reform Act,[9] legislation enacted by the state of Illinois in 1988 to reform Chicago Public Schools. Among the changes that it made was removing academic tenure from principals, and creating Local School Councils to which principals had to answer.[10]

Eisendrath endorsed the ward redistricting map proposed by Mayor Richard M. Daley when it was put to a public vote via a 1992 referendum. The referendum offered Chicagoans the unusual opportunity to provide input in the redistricting, allowing them to vote between two options. Rather than providing voters a visual representation of each of the two options, the phrasing of the question on the ballot provided voters with a list of the aldermen that supported each respective map. Eisendrath supported the option preferred by Mayor Daley.[11]

### 1990 congressional campaign

[edit]

Eisendrath ran in the 1990 Democratic primary election for the U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois's 9th congressional district, challenging longtime incumbent Sid Yates. Eisendrath ran an anti-incumbent campaign focused on the decades-long length of Yates' tenure.[12] He also made an issue of Yates' advanced age.[13] Eisendrath lost in a landslide.[12]

## Subsequent career in government, politics, and education

[edit]

In October 1993, Eisenhdrath resigned as alderman to become the administrator for the Region V office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Chicago, one of HUD's largest and busiest offices.[citation needed] He later served as Vice President of Academic Affairs for Kendall College but resigned the position in 2007.[citation needed]

From 2007 to 2017, Eisendrath was an international business consultant with a focus on global higher education.[citation needed]

## 2006 gubernatorial campaign

[edit]

Eisendrath sought the Democratic nomination for Governor of Illinois in 2006, but was defeated in the primary by incumbent governor Rod Blagojevich.[citation needed]

## CEO of the Chicago Sun-Times (2017–2019)

[edit]

In 2017, Eisendrath led a group, including retired WLS-TV anchor Linda Yu and the Chicago Federation of Labor, to place a bid for the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper. It was announced July 13 that the group, ST Acquisition Holdings LLC, purchased the Sun-Times.[14][15] Shortly thereafter, Eisendrath was named the new chief executive officer of the newspaper.[16]

In January 2018, Eisendrath hired Mark Konkol as executive editor of then-Sun-Times-owned Chicago Reader[17] Konkol soon published an issue with racist cover and Eisendrath fired Konkol.[18] Later in 2018, Eisendrath resigned as CEO after meeting his original goals stating "Not only did we stop the (Tribune) merger, we successfully relocated, rebranded, restructured”.[19][20]

## Later career

[edit]

In 2019, Eisendrath helped launch Verifiable, a company that uses advanced technologies to provide real-time license verification and continuous monitoring of healthcare providers to increase efficiency and reduce compliance costs to hospitals and other health care organization.[citation needed]

Most recently, Eisendrath is guest hosting at the progressive Chicago radio station WCPT820am.[21]

## Patents

[edit]

Edwin is an inventor on several issued and pending US and international patents related to virtual on-line universities.[22]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Ben Joravsky, Why Is This Man Running?, The Chicago Reader, February 15, 1990.
2. ^ Behind the Headlines Jewish Voters Played a Key Role in the Chicago Election, JTA, April 20, 1987.
3. ^ Gerry Doyle, Edwin W. Eisendrath Jr., The Chicago Tribune, June 30, 2006.
4. ^ a b c Felsenthal, Carol (June 22, 2017). "Who Is Edwin Eisendrath?". Chicago. Springfield, Illinois: tronc. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
5. ^ The new owner’s kid brother used to work here, The Chicago Reader, July 20, 2017.
6. ^ "Facebook Status Update July 13th". National Louis University. July 13, 2017. Archived from the original on 2022-02-26. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
7. ^ Green, Paul M. (July 1987). "A walk on the wild side". Illinois Issues. Vol. 16, no. 7\. Springfield, Illinois: Sangamon State University. pp. 46–47. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
8. ^ Baquet, Dean; Griffin, Jean Latz; Kass, John (9 April 1987). "Lucky 13 Make Up the City Councils Class of 1987". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
9. ^ Joravsky, Ben (April 1988). "The Chicago school mess". Illinois Issues. Vol. 14, no. 4\. Springfield, Illinois: Sangamon State University. pp. 12–15. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
10. ^ Bennett, Albert L.; Byrk, Anthony S.; Easton, John Q.; Kerbow, David; Luppescu, Stuart; Sebring, Penny Bender (December 1992). "Charting Reform The Principals' Perspective". University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
11. ^ Galvan, Manuel (March 1992). "Redistricting city wards by referenda March 17". Illinois Issues. Vol. 18, no. 3\. Springfield, Illinois: Sangamon State University. pp. 32–33. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
12. ^ a b Camper, John (March 1990). "Reynolds and Eisendrath: What Chance Against Incumbents?". Illinois Issues. Vol. 16, no. 3\. Springfield, Illinois: Sangamon State University. pp. 34–35\. ISSN 0738-9663. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
13. ^ Ylisela, James, Jr. (March 1998). "Old Sid Is Looking Better Than Ever in the 9th District Race". Illinois Issues (37). Retrieved 20 November 2024.`{{cite journal}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
14. ^ Miller, Rich (June 5, 2017). "Potential Sun-Times buyers line up ahead of deadline". Capitol Fax. Springfield, Illinois. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
15. ^ Esposito, Stefano (July 13, 2017). "New investors in Chicago Sun-Times revealed". Chicago Sun Times. Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
16. ^ Blumberg, Nick (July 18, 2017). "Meet Edwin Eisendrath, the New Chicago Sun-Times CEO". Chicago Tonight. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
17. ^ "Pulitzer winner Mark Konkol to lead Chicago Reader". Chicago Reader. January 31, 2018. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
18. ^ "Edwin Eisendrath discusses the offensive Reader cover, staff diversity, and the paper's future". Chicago Reader. February 21, 2018. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
19. ^ https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-sun-times-ceo-resigns-20181031-story.htm [dead link]
20. ^ Main, Frank (October 31, 2018). "Edwin Eisendrath resigns as Sun-Times Media CEO". Retrieved September 16, 2019.
21. ^ "Just another WordPress site | Management Site".
22. ^ Google patent search on "Edwin Eisengrath"

Political offices

Preceded by

Martin J. Oberman

|  Member of the Chicago City Council
43rd Ward
1987 - 1993  | Succeeded by

Charles Bernardini

Authority control databases |

* SNAC

|

*[m.]: married