Robert L. Butler
| Robert L. Butler | |
|---|---|
| Mayor of Marion, Illinois | |
|
Assumed office 1963 |
|
| Preceded by | Robert Cooksey |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 23, 1927 |
| Political party | Independent |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois Law School |
| Occupation | Mayor of Marion, Illinois |
Robert L. Butler (born January 23, 1927) is the current Mayor of Marion, Illinois, in office since 1963.
He is the son of Homer and Eva (Clarida) Butler. His father served six years on the Marion City Council starting in the 1930s. His maternal grandfather J. H. Clarida, served as mayor of the city in the 1920s during the Bloody Williamson era.
Butler won his 14th election for mayor on April 7, 2015, with 71.8 percent of the vote in a three-way race. He is believed to be the longest-serving Illinois mayor or village president, recently surpassing the record of his fellow Williamson County Mayor, Frank Caliper of Colp who served 52 years from 1935 to his death in 1987, and Donald Stephens of the tiny Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois who served 51 years from the village's incorporation in 1956 to his death in 2007.
Butler has long been associated with the Republican party, but is classified as an Independent due to his paleolibertarian-paleoconservative stances on issues. Many praise him as a straight-shooting, old-school public servant whose pro-growth agenda has helped turn this once-flagging city into a regional powerhouse along Interstate 57. An industrial park in Marion is named after him due to his hard work in bringing business to Southern Illinois over the years.
His maternal grandfather. J. H. Clarida, served as mayor of Marion from 1923–27 and, for a time, was the Police Chief. Butler's father, Homer M. Butler, served on the local school board and city commission, then spent 16 years in the state Legislature during the 1940s and '50s. Butler grew up in Marion and graduated from Marion High School. As a youth he earned the rank of Eagle Scout in the local Boy Scout troop and served on summer camp staff in 1943 at what would later become Ferne Clyffe State Park. That summer he became a charter member of the Ney-A-Ti Lodge, the local chapter of the Order of the Arrow honor society in Scouting.
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