Edward Rell Madigan

Edward Rell Madigan (January 13, 1936 – December 7, 1994) was a businessman and a Republican Party politician from Lincoln, Illinois. He served almost 20 years in the United States House of Representatives and was U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under President George H. W. Bush.

Early life, education, and politics Madigan was born in Lincoln, Illinois, on January 13, 1936. He attended Lincoln Junior College before starting his own taxicab business.

Politics

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 Clayton Yeutter resigned, and Madigan was appointed secretary of agriculture. Serving from 1991 to 1993, Madigan was the first Roman Catholic to serve as secretary of agriculture.

Death and legacy He died of complications from lung cancer on December 7, 1994, at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Illinois, at the age of 58. He and his wife, Evelyn, had three daughters.

On June 2, 1995, the former Plant and Animal Biotechnology Laboratory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign was rededicated and renamed the Edward R. Madigan Laboratory in Madigan's honor.

In 1995, 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.

In 1984, Illinois native, and future congressman from Nebraska Don Bacon interned in Madigan's Washington, D.C., office.