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Home | Office Holder | Edward Rell Madigan
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Madigan was born in Lincoln and attended Lincoln [Junior] College before starting his own taxicab business. He entered public service as a member of the Lincoln Board of Zoning Appeals from 1965 to 1969. During that time, he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives where he served from 1967 to 1973. In November, 1972 he was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives, and was subsequently elected to nine more terms. Madigan narrowly lost the race for Minority Whip in 1989 to future Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich of Georgia. Madigan served in Congress from 1973 to 1991 when he resigned to become Secretary of Agriculture, a position he held from 1991 to 1993. Madigan was the first Roman Catholic to serve as Secretary of Agriculture. He died in Lincoln in 1994 from lung cancer, and he is interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery there. In 1995, the Edward R. Madigan State Fish and Wildlife Area, a state park near Lincoln, was renamed in Madigan's honor. Edward Madigan came from a politically active family. His younger brother Robert Madigan served as the City Clerk for Lincoln, Illinois for several terms, then sat in the Illinois State Senate for 14 years and finally concluded his public service with a brief term on the Illinois Commerce Commission. Madigan died in 2005 and is buried near his brother and their parents in the Holy Cross Cemetery. |
