Former Chicago Alderman John Rice drops dead at 47 - Known by his friends as Illinois Fats - The good thing about being a Chicago Alderman is even the maggots won't touch you.....

Mr. Rice also had to remove a Chicago Lodge 7 Fraternal Order of Police medallion and a police union membership sticker from his car, where he had displayed them despite a state law reserving that privilege for officers

John Rice, former alderman of the 36th ward, has died at 47.

He died Saturday night at home, said his mentor, former Ald. William J.P. Banks, who sponsored Mr. Rice for his aldermanic post when Banks retired.

“He was a very good family man,” said Banks, who said Mr. Rice had two daughters. “I think he was a good alderman.”


Before becoming alderman, Mr. Rice worked as a city zoning inspector and was a trusted aide to Banks, an ally of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley. Mr. Rice was responsible for driving Banks between City Hall and the alderman’s ward office on the far Northwest Side.

He got his start in politics as a child, tagging along with his father as he visited voters on behalf of the powerful 36th Ward Regular Democratic Organization. At 18, he inherited his father’s precinct captain post.

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