Oak Park
1985 Dan Elich, founder of the CARE political party
1986 Keith Bergstrom, Oak Park police chief
1987 Clifford Osborn, Oak Park village president
1988 J. Neil Nielsen, Oak Park village manager
1989 John Fagan, superintendent of Oak Park Elementary School District 97
1990 Marjorie Judith Vincent, Oak Parker named Miss America that year
1991 Philip Rock, Illinois Senate president
1992 Joseph Mendrick, Oak Park police chief
1993 Allen Parker, Oak Park village manager
1994 Crime-fighting Harrison Street residents, organized to resist gang incursions from the West Side
1995 John FS Williams, director of Oak Park Township Youth Services
1996 Martin Noll, founder of Community Bank of Oak Park-River Forest
1997 Rev. M. Randolph Thompson, pastor and founder of Fellowship Christian, Oak Park’s first predominantly black church
1998 Kathy Lamar, active in youth concerns and outgoing District 97 school board member
1999 Susan Bridge, superintendent and principal of Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200
2000 Carl Swenson, Oak Park village manager
2001 Seymour Taxman, developer of the Shops of Downtown Oak Park, River Forest Town Centers I and II, Euclid Terraces, and the Mews
2002 Nile Wendorf and Mila Tellez, community activists
2003 Robert Milstein, a rare trustee on the Oak Park village board who was not a member of the Village Manager Association party
2004 John Schiess and Alex Troyanovsky, architect and developer, respectively, on numerous projects in Oak Park
2005 Citizens for Change, group of nine who helped shift power to a new political organization
2006 Ali ElSaffar, Oak Park Township assessor
2007 David Pope, village president, and Tom Barwin, village manager
2008 Gary Balling, park district executive director
2009 Mike Kelly, head of Park National Bank
2010 OPRF Citizens Council, fighting substance abuse
2011 Peter Traczyk, District 97 board president
2012 Collaboration for Early Childhood Care and Education
2013 Anan Abu-Taleb, Oak Park president
2014 John Phelan, D200 board president
2015 Cara Pavlicek, Oak Park village manager
2016 Monica Sheehan, community activist
2017 Anthony Clark, founder of Suburban Unity Alliance, OPRF teacher
2018 Jackie Moore, D200 board president
2019 Dr. Joylynn Pruitt-Adams, D200 superintendent
2020 Sixteen local heroes, representing the many helpers who helped us get through the first year of COVID-19
River Forest
2005 Frank Paris, River Forest village president
2006 Charles “Chuck” Biondo, River Forest village administrator
2007 Steve Hoke, River Forest village trustee
2008 Frank Paris, River Forest village president, and Steve Hoke, River Forest village trustee
2009 Frank Limon, River Forest chief of police
2010 John Rigas, River Forest village president
2011 John Rigas, River Forest village president
2012 Al Popowits, citizen activist
2013 Catherine Adduci, River Forest president
2014 John Phelan, D200 board president
2015 Kristin Carlson Vogen, Oak Park River Forest Community Foundation president
2016 Dave Franek, former chair Historic Preservation Commission
2017 Donna Carroll, president of Dominican University
2018 Dr. Edward Condon, superintendent for River Forest School D90
2019 Dr. Joylynn Pruitt-Adams, D200 superintendent
