CHICAGO – Jane Byrne, who stunned Chicago’s political establishment in 1979 by taking on the Democratic machine and becoming the city’s first and only female mayor, died Friday morning. She was 81.
Byrne had gradually faded from public view after losing a re-election bid in 1983. She had been in ill health for the last few years and died just before 10 a.m. while in hospice care in a high-rise near the Water Tower downtown, according to her daughter, Kathy Byrne.
“She looked down on the city she loved,” Byrne said.
Byrne was near a large picture window with a view toward the lake when she died, surrounded by her family, including her 17-year-old grandson, her daughter said. “He was her pride and joy,” said Byrne.
“The family was here, she was surrounded by people that loved her and whom she loved,” Byrne said. “She had been ill for a couple years. . .At the start of the week I sort of knew. Her doctor said she was getting weaker and weaker.”