Edward Rell Madigan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edward Rell Madigan (January 13, 1936 – December 7, 1994) was a businessman and a Republican party politician from Lincoln, Illinois. He served almost twenty years in the United States House of Representatives and was U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for George H. W. Bush.

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 (leader) in 1989 to 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.

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 [State] Commerce Commission. Robert Madigan died in 2005 and is buried near his brother and their parents in Holy Cross Cemetery.

[edit] External links

Edward Rell Madigan at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Kenneth J. Gray	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 21st congressional district January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1983	Succeeded by Melvin Price
Preceded by Tom Corcoran	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 15th congressional district January 3, 1983 – March 8, 1991	Succeeded by Thomas W. Ewing
Political offices
Preceded by Clayton K. Yeutter	United States Secretary of Agriculture March 8, 1991 – January 20, 1993	Succeeded by Mike Espy

v • d • e United States Secretaries of Agriculture

Coleman • Rusk • Morton • Wilson • Houston • Meredith • HC Wallace • Gore • Jardine • Hyde • HA Wallace • Wickard • Anderson • Brannan • Benson • Freeman • Hardin • Butz • Knebel • Bergland • Block • Lyng • Yeutter • Madigan • Espy • Glickman • Veneman • Johanns • Schafer

v • d • e Cabinet of President George H. W. Bush (1989–1993)

Vice President	Dan Quayle (1989 – 1993)

Secretary of State	James Baker (1989 – 1992) • Lawrence Eagleburger (1992 – 1993)

Secretary of the Treasury	Nicholas F. Brady (1989 – 1993)

Secretary of Defense	Dick Cheney (1989 – 1993)

Attorney General	Dick Thornburgh (1989 – 1991) • William Barr (1991 – 1993)

Secretary of the Interior	Manuel Lujan, Jr. (1989 – 1993)

Secretary of the Agriculture	Clayton K. Yeutter (1989 – 1991) • Edward Madigan (1991 – 1993)

Secretary of Commerce	Robert Mosbacher (1989 – 1992) • Barbara Hackman Franklin (1992 – 1993)

Secretary of Labor	Elizabeth Dole (1989 – 1990) • Lynn Morley Martin (1990 – 1993)

Secretary of Health and Human Services	Louis Wade Sullivan (1989 – 1993)

Secretary of Education	Lauro Cavazos (1989 – 1990) • Lamar Alexander (1991 – 1993)

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	Jack Kemp (1989 – 1993)

Secretary of Transportation	Samuel K. Skinner (1989 – 1992) • Andrew Card (1992 - 1993)

Secretary of Energy	James D. Watkins (1989 – 1993)

Secretary of Veterans Affairs	Ed Derwinski (1998 – 1992)