As Joseph Waldeck reminisced about his father, Frank, he remembered someone dedicated to Lake Forest in many ways, and always with the same common purpose.
“He always felt there was a commitment to give back to others and to his community,” Waldeck said. “He felt very lucky that we wound up in Lake Forest because he thought it was such a great community to be in and raise a family.”
Frank Waldeck, who served as Lake Forest’s mayor from 1978-1981, died Feb. 12 of natural causes, according to his son. The former mayor was 98.
The Lake Forest City Council passed a sympathy resolution at its March 15 meeting, honoring Waldeck.
After moving to his adopted city in 1957, Frank Waldeck was appointed to the city’s Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals prior to being elected mayor in 1978, succeeding his longtime friend, Jim Swarthout.
Swarthout remembered Waldeck was reluctant to run for mayor.
“I had to beg him to run for mayor,” Swarthout said.
Eventually Waldeck agreed to become the city’s top elected official, and his son noted Waldeck’s overall belief in assisting the community.
“He was very interested and thoughtful about giving back to the community and to everyone as a whole by public service,” Joseph Waldeck said.
Frank Waldeck’s tenure as mayor is remembered for building of the recreation center, overseeing the formation of what became the city’s youth organization Committee Representing Our Young Adults – also known as CROYA – and the creation of protections for the city’s historic and environmental resources, according to the resolution the City Council approved.
“There have been very few mayors who have those transformational changes happen on their watch,” current Mayor George Pandaleon said after the council meeting. “He left us with institutions that are critical to this day that came to life when he was mayor.”
Waldeck’s time in office also saw the culmination of a project started by Swarthout: making the Chicago Bears football team a permanent stakeholder in Lake Forest.
After the Bears started practicing in Lake Forest in 1975, Swarthout entered into an agreement with team officials to construct its own standalone practice facility. In 1979, with Waldeck as mayor, the Bears opened the original Halas Hall at Lake Forest College and it remained their practice home until the second version opened in 1997 in another part of the city.
At the council meeting, Pandaleon read a letter from Bears Chairman George H. McCaskey that was addressed to the family but a copy of it was also sent to the city.
In the letter, McCaskey spoke of the team’s more than four-decade association with Lake Forest and praised Waldeck.
“Over the years, members of ownership, coaches, players, and staff have resided in this prestigious city, and many still do. Whether operating our business or utilizing the town’s excellent schools, parks, or shopping opportunities, the Bears and our employees are appreciative of the outstanding amenities this city has to offer,” McCaskey wrote. “This would not have been possible had it not been for Frank’s dedication and commitment to work with the Bears to help formulate this partnership.”
Waldeck had other civic interests, including sitting on the board of the Lake Forest Symphony, the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Center (known today as the History Center) and Barat College, which closed in 2005, according to city information.
For the parade that is part of the annual Lake Forest Day celebration, Pandaleon said Waldeck would choose not to sit in a car and wave with the other former mayors but preferred to walk the route and greet residents and other attendees.
In the 1950s, Frank Waldeck was also one of the founding members of the Lake Forest Club, according to his son. Joseph Waldeck recalled the family spending many summer days and nights playing in the club’s pool.
Born in the Cleveland area, Frank Waldeck enrolled at the University of Notre Dame but enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II and was assigned to the 103rd Infantry Division, according to his son. He fought in Europe and was about to be deployed to Japan in 1945, but the war in the Pacific came to an end.
Waldeck also served in the Korean War and he stayed active in the Infantry Division’s Association for the rest of his life organizing reunions, according to his son.
After his military service concluded, and already married to his wife, Patricia, Waldeck entered the business world, working as a certified public accountant in Cleveland. In 1957, he was recruited by a Skokie-based firm and moved his family to Lake Forest. He later took an executive role at a heat treating company now known as Lindberg/MPH, according to the late mayor’s family.
Despite not knowing anyone in the community when they first moved to Lake Forest, the Waldecks settled into the city and eventually had eight children – which could make the dinner table crowded and lively, Joseph Waldeck remembered.
“Having 10 people at dinner, he would control the conversation,” Joseph Waldeck said about his father. “You didn’t talk unless you were called on by him.”
While Waldeck travelled frequently for work, Joseph, now a retired Lake County judge, said his father was “great.”
“He was very firm, you knew where he stood at all times, but he never pushed you,” he said.
A devout Catholic, Frank Waldeck was a regular parishioner at Lake Forest’s Church of St. Mary where Pandaleon, the current mayor, said he regularly saw him sitting in the front row.
In his 50s, Waldeck started running again – after previously being on the Notre Dame track team – and became a member of the Lake Forest Running Club, Joseph Waldeck said.
He participated in many 10K races including several entries in the Boston and Chicago marathongs. Joseph Waldeck said his father was still “slow walking” into his early 90s.
Waldeck said his father also enjoyed playing golf at the Onwentsia Club and in later years, he and Patricia spent their winters in Marco Island, Florida.
Frank Waldeck is preceded in death by his wife, Patricia, who died in 2012 after 66 years of marriage, and daughter Ann and son William.
Waldeck is survived by six children: Joseph, Fred, James, Thomas, Mary and Carol; and 21 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelancer.
