Richard Godfrey

Former Normal Mayor and Town President Richard Godfrey, who received international and national recognition, met with presidents and world leaders, has died at the age of 91.

Godfrey, a resident of Chicago, retired as director of international public relations for the Eureka floor care company. He was also emeritus director of advancement and former director of public affairs for Illinois State University and a former newspaper editor and reporter and radio news director.

He and his wife of 70 years, Mary Jean, lived in a condominium in Chicago’s Marina City Towers for more than 25 years.

Along with his wife, Godfrey is survived by four daughters, Karol Powell, LeeAnn Ulman (Zel), JoAnn and Vickie Godfrey Apostolos (George); 12 grandchildren, all college students or college graduates and living in Switzerland, New York City, Atlanta, Chicago, Texas and California among other places; and seven great-grandchildren.

Godrey served as Normal mayor from 1976-85.

“Mayor Godrey was committed to the betterment of the Town, leaving an indelible mark through his public service,” Normal officials said in a Facebook post. “During his tenure, Mayor Godfrey championed economic development programs that transformed the Town, including the building of the College Hills indoor shopping mall and an invitation to the Mitsubishi corporation to locate in Normal.”

His economic development program included new businesses and coordination of merchants for redevelopment of downtown Normal. He also initiated more than $35 million in street construction, sodium lighting for neighborhood safety, expanded public safety operations and built a new fire station headquarters.

He chose not to seek re-election to a third term, even though he had won 86 percent of the vote in the previous election.

Godfrey received more than 15 national, state and local awards, including from the National Park Service Rangers Corps, National Park Foundation, American Heart Association, University of Minnesota, U.S. Coast Guard, Normal Chamber of Commerce, Illinois House of Representatives, Illinois State Senate, Normal Rotary Club, Eureka Co., Illinois State University, Asahikawa, Japan, and hometown Streator (where Mary Jean was a cheerleader).

He met with five U.S. presidents, as well as ambassadors, prime ministers and foreign leaders.

Godfrey served in the U.S. Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary, joining the day after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the age of 67, since the auxiliary had no age limitation. After various assignments, including cutter guard and patrols, he because auxiliary staff officer for public affairs for Great Lake Division 2 and received a national award for his public relations program. As a member of the Coast Guard, he also was a founding member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

He served in uniform for nine years. Godfrey helped establish nationwide private fund-raising support for the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Strategic Marketing Magazine honored his public relations marketing program for Eureka on behalf of national parks, the American Heart Association and American eagles, citing it as a model for the nation.

The U.S. National Park Service Corps of Rangers honored Godfrey for creating the National Park Rangers of the Year Award, presented annually by the U.S. President in the White House with Eureka executives present.

Mitsubishi picked Normal’s proposal over those of five other states. Kazao Naganuma, Mitsubishi North American vice president, said that he made the decision to put the plant in Normal the same day he met with Godfrey and Bloomington Mayor Rich Buchanan, took an helicopter tour of the plant site, and had dinner with the mayors.

Godfrey was selected as one of 17 U.S mayors to travel on a U.S. State Department-authorized trip to Cuba to meet with President Fidel Castro in U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s quest to open relations with Cuba.

An Associated Press photo of Rich and Mary Jean Godfrey on the trip appeared in the New York Times and other U.S papers.

Godfrey was invited to the Rangers of the Year award presentation six times and Eureka donated large sums for preservation of national parks.

In a ceremony at the Willard Hotel in Washington, the National Park Foundation and the Secretary of the Interior presented Godfrey an award, later followed up with a plaque, ranger hat and invitation to do volunteer work with the National Park Service.

The University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center honored Godfrey for his nationwide programs to preserve American Bald Eagles, taking eagles to promotions on military bases and in Chicago and other cities.

Godfrey was invited to the White House 11 times.

Rich and Mary Jean Godfrey assisted in development of programs for the Pearl Harbor Memorial Center, Manzanar Japanese internment camp and Eugene O’Neil Center in Danville, Calf.

He did national appearances on behalf of the American Heart Association about women’s heart issues. For that, he received the national Flame Award of the Heart Association in Dallas.

Eureka donated more than $750,000 to the Heart Association.

At Illinois State University for 27 years prior to Eureka, Godfrey served as director of advancement, director of the Division of Public Affairs and president of the ISU Foundation. He was among five administrators on the ISU President’s staff.

As director of public affairs, Godfrey was responsible for the news service, publications, alumni services, development, parent services, telecommunications, postal service, sports information, printing, WGLT radio, photographic services and the Vidette newspaper.

When he retired, his duties were spread among four administrators.

He was also the public address announcer for ISU football and men’s basketball, and also the Illinois High School Association state football championships.

Godfrey had a nightly ISU news program over WJBC and a weekend interview radio program over several stations, including St. Louis.

After retirement from Eureka in 1998, the Godfreys lived in the 60-story Marina City Towers, overlooking the Chicago River and Lake Michigan in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, along with one of their daughters and her family.

Leadership at Eureka Co. described Godfrey as “magic” for the nationally recognized multi-million-dollar cause-related programs he created, capsulizing a life that saw him rise from working his way through college with jobs as a garbage truck driver, factory worker, jewelry store clerk, prison clerk, postal clerk and newspaper reporter to four different presidents inviting him to the White House.

He and his wife had a public audience with Pope Benedict and enacted educational, environmental and health programs nationally and internationally.

Godfrey’s cause marketing resulted in the sale of more than 500,000 World Vac vacuum cleaners.

Rich Godfrey and Mary Jean Fialko were married June 12, 1954 in St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in Streator.

Mary Jean was a licensed real estate agent for Gallery of Homes in Bloomington, assistant to the director of alumni services at Illinois Wesleyan University and executive secretary in the auto actuarial department at State Farm Insurance’s corporate headquarters.

Their daughters, Karol Powell of Austin, Texas is a retired field executive of State Farm; LeeAnn Ulman of Atlanta is a retired special education teacher; JoAnn, a resident of the Chicago suburbs, is a department manager for Macy’s in Aurora; and Vicki of Chicago is director of operations for GEMS World Academy in Chicago and is former president of the Chicago Hotel Concierge Association.

As mayor, Godfrey introduced public opinion surveys to help guide decision-making, detailed reports to the citizens, economic development that led to Normal’s top tier bond rating and leadership in confronting utility rate increases. He initiated a formula for state funding of fire departments in cities in Illinois with large state operations that otherwise paid no property tax.

Visitation will be held from 9:30 a.m. Friday until the time of the funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m. at Holy Name Cathedral, 735 N. State St., Chicago. Attendees are asked to wear bright-colored attire in celebration of Godfrey’s life.

Donations may be made to Northwestern Memorial Foundation, P.O. Box 734985, Chicago, IL 60673-4985. Make checks payable to “Northwestern Memorial Foundation” and include “Richard T. Godfrey” in the memo line. You can also donate online at https://nmgive.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.event&eventID=1286 or over the phone at 833-443-8663. Your gift will support the Northwestern Medicine Prentice Hospital Surgical Oncology Research Fund.

kbeese@chronicleillinois.com