George Ryan dies at 91; former Illinois governor halted executions, but went to prison amid corruption scandal

By Christopher Wills and John O Connor Associated Press SPRINGFIELD Ill Former Illinois Gov George Ryan disgraced by a corruption embarrassment that landed him in prison yet heralded by a few for clearing the state s death row has died He was Kankakee County Coroner Robert Gessner a family friend mentioned Ryan died Friday afternoon at his home in Kankakee where he was receiving hospice care Ryan started out a small-town pharmacist but wound up running one of the country s largest states Along the way the tough-on-crime Republican experienced a conversion on the death penalty and won international praise by halting executions as governor and eventually emptying death row He served only one term as governor from to that ended amid accusations he used governing body offices to reward friends win elections and hide corruption that played a role in the fiery deaths of six children Eventually Ryan was convicted of corruption charges and sentenced to years in federal prison During his more than five years behind bars Ryan worked as a carpenter and befriended fellow inmates multiple of whom addressed him as governor He was issued in January weeks before his th birthday looking thinner and more subdued He d been defiant heading to prison The night before he went in Ryan insisted he was innocent and would prove it But when Ryan demanded President George W Bush to grant him clemency in he stated he accepted the verdict against him and felt deep shame I apologize to the people of Illinois for my conduct Ryan commented at the time Ryan was still serving his sentence when his wife Lura Lynn died in June He was briefly issued to be at her deathbed but wasn t allowed to attend her funeral On the day he left prison and returned to the Kankakee home where he and his wife had raised their children one of his grandchildren handed him an urn containing his wife s ashes Born in Iowa and raised in Kankakee Ryan married his high school sweetheart followed his father in becoming a pharmacist and had six children Those who knew Ryan described him as the ultimate family man and a neighbor s neighbor someone who let local kids use his basketball court or rushed to Dairy Queen to buy treats when they missed the ice cream truck He s even offered to deliver the papers newspaper delivery boy Ben Angelo announced when Ryan was running for governor He was serious In Ryan was appointed to fill an unexpired term on the county board beginning a quick rise in politics Eventually he served as speaker of the Illinois House lieutenant governor secretary of state and certainly governor A glad-handing politician from the old school Ryan emphasized pragmatism over ideology He worked with personnel from both parties and struck deals on the golf unit or during evenings of cigars and booze Ryan helped block the Equal Rights Amendment in the early s during his term as speaker of the Illinois House triggering various of the preponderance heated demonstrations ever seen at the Capitol They wrote my name in blood on the floor in front of the House in front of the governor s office Ryan explained They were trying hectic times frankly His willingness to set aside party orthodoxy sometimes put him at odds with more conservative Republicans He led a failed effort in to get the General Assembly to restrict assault weapons He backed gambling expansion He became the first governor to visit Cuba since Fidel Castro took power And in after signing off on the execution of one killer he decided not to carry out any more He imposed a moratorium on executions and began reviewing reforms to a judicial system that repeatedly sentenced innocent men to die Ultimately Ryan decided no reforms would provide the certainty he demanded In virtually his last act as governor he emptied death row with pardons and commutations in Because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious and therefore immoral I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death Ryan announced Ryan uncovered himself mentioned as a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize at the same time federal prosecutors were closing in Before year s end he would be charged with taking payoffs gifts and vacations in return for steering regime contracts and leases to cronies as well as lying to investigators and cheating on his taxes Much of the illegal activity took place during Ryan s two terms as Illinois secretary of state including the deaths of six children They burned to death after their minivan struck a part that had fallen off a truck whose driver got his license illegally from Ryan s office Related Articles Ruth Buzzi dies at actor co-starred in groundbreaking sketch comedy Laugh-In Bartender who created tequila sunrise at Bay Area restaurant dies at Alcario Castellano used lottery jackpot to fuel locality philanthropy RuPaul s Drag Race star Jiggly Caliente dies at World War II airman s remains receive a hero s welcome in San Jose Federal investigators revealed that Ryan had turned the secretary of state s office into an arm of his political campaign pressuring employees for contributions various of which came through bribes from unqualified truck drivers for licenses After the children s deaths Ryan also gutted the part of his office responsible for rooting out corruption Then as governor he steered millions of dollars in state leases and contracts to political insiders who in turn provided gifts such as trips to a Jamaican resort and loans to his brother s struggling business investigators discovered He was convicted on all charges April The father of the six dead children criticized Ryan s attitude at the time There was no remorse in George Ryan after the verdict That didn t surprise me That s Ryan s same attitude a chip on the shoulder revealed the Rev Scott Willis It makes it a little easier to feel elation His attitude confirms the verdict was right Anger at Ryan weakened Republicans for years and energized the gubernatorial campaign of a charismatic young Democrat who promised to clean up Springfield Rod Blagojevich Later as federal investigators probed his own conduct Blagojevich would call for Ryan to be granted clemency and disclosed from prison Wills a former Associated Press staffer was the principal writer of this obituary