Mark Eckert, Belleville’s second-longest serving mayor, died Wednesday after a seven-month battle with cancer. He was 67.
Eckert served as mayor for 16 years and four months. He was sworn in Dec. 20, 2004, after being appointed by former Mayor Mark Kern, who had been elected St. Clair County Board chairman that November.
“I wasn’t positioning myself to be the mayor when I decided to run for the City Council,” Eckert said at the time. “This is pretty amazing.”
Eckert had made a name for himself as a community activist before being elected Ward 5 alderman in 1997. He won his first mayoral election in 2005 with 75% of the vote and was reelected in 2009, 2013 and 2017 for a total of three decades in public service.
Former Mayor Charles Nichols remains Belleville’s longest-serving mayor, according to city records. He took office on May 1, 1961, and served until his death on Nov. 1, 1978, for a record of 17 years and six months.
Had Eckert won reelection in April 2021, he could have surpassed Nichols’ record, but he told the BND that didn’t have any bearing on his decision to run. Instead, he said he wanted to serve another term to help the city during through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eckert called his loss to current Mayor Patty Gregory “bittersweet,” but he remained philosophical, noting that sometimes voters “just want a change.”
“I’ve made some fabulous friends,” he said when he left office. “I’ve made some lifetime friends and no doubt because I was in the right place at the right time in this position, and I have to say that for that I’m extremely blessed and extremely appreciative.”
Health problems disrupt plans
After the election, Eckert began helping more at his family’s business, Eckert Florist. He joined the Belleville School District 118 Foundation Board and renewed his involvement in the Franklin Neighborhood Community Association, where his activism began in the early 1990s.
Eckert also was spending more time with his grandchildren and planning to do some traveling with his wife, Rita.
The cancer diagnosis came in November 2022.
Eckert said in a January interview that an unusually fast heartbeat prompted him to drive himself to the emergency room at Memorial Hospital in Belleville, where a scan revealed suspicious spots on his lungs, liver and spine. Biopsies later confirmed cancer.
“It’s serious,” Eckert conceded. “There’s no two ways about it. I’ve got cancer in several spots.
“I’m optimistic, but I know that I’ve got my fair share of cancer. It really has made me wake up and realize that a lot of people go through some heavy suffering and pain on a daily basis. I’m just starting to learn what that means.”
Eckert said he would fight the cancer with friends, family and faith. He thanked local residents for the many cards, letters, emails and texts he had received since his diagnosis.
At that time, Eckert was undergoing chemotherapy treatments at Siteman Cancer Center in Shiloh. His cancer later advanced, and he entered hospice care in mid-May, according to his family.
Eckert was a graduate of Belleville Township High School West and the Southwest Illinois Police Academy. He worked as a St. Clair County deputy sheriff for a year and as an ambulance driver and emergency medical technician before he became mayor. He also owned and operated a company called Maine Chimney Sweep.
‘It's always been Belleville first'
One of Eckert’s last public events was his 67th birthday party in January at Cutter’s Bar & Grill in Belleville, where about 100 people gathered to celebrate and check on his well-being.
His two daughters, Kate Kotler and Lucy Eckert, recalled him attending hundreds of meetings and community functions as mayor and getting calls at all hours of the day and night from local residents and city officials. He was known for never turning off his cellphone.
“It’s always been Belleville first,” said Lucy Eckert, a third-grade teacher. “That’s really all I’ve ever known.”
Mark Eckert and his wife also have two sons, Matt and Luke Eckert, and four grandchildren. A fifth grandchild is expected in December.
Eckert’s father, the late Robert Eckert, was a Belleville policeman from 1951 to 1976. His brother, the late Mike Eckert, worked 34 years for the city of Belleville.
Mark Eckert told the BND in April 2021 that one of his favorite memories as mayor occurred several years ago after a thunderstorm.
A lightning strike had knocked out a woman’s electricity, and it was “hotter in the house than it was outside” when he checked on her after getting a call about her plight.
With the help of close friend Joe Hubbard, the retired founder of Catholic Urban Programs who now works with the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the woman was able to get a hotel voucher to escape the heat.
Eckert recalls the daughter saying, “Why would you help my mother like this?” and “I just can’t believe the mayor would do this.” He told the daughter that her mother is “one of my citizens” and that “I’d sure wish somebody would do it if it was my mother.”
“This is the nice part of the job,” Eckert told the BND.
Successes and challenges
Eckert listed downtown streetscape improvements on Main Street as one of his proudest accomplishments as mayor. The new lighting and landscaping sparked a resurgence of business and provided a backdrop for festivals such as Art on the Square, Christkindlmarkt and Oktoberfest.
Eckert said infrastructure and street improvements totaled about $130 million during his tenure.
Other road projects included the North Illinois streetscape; the West Main streetscape from Sixth to 12th streets with plans underway to extend this to 17th Street; McClintock Avenue; Raab Avenue; Union Avenue; South 10th Street; South Eighth Street; East Belle Avenue; Juanita Place; Dapron Drive; East A Street; East Washington Street; North 37th Street; North 39th Street; North 42nd Street; Centreville Avenue; and North Virginia Street.
Eckert said other accomplishments and developments on his watch included the renovation of City Hall to meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act; the renovation of a new fire station off Illinois 15 and the lowering of the city’s ISO rating from a 4 to 2, with 1 being the best rating; establishing a new police headquarters and “tornado-proof” dispatch center at 720 W. Main St.; about $90 million in sewer system improvements; celebration of the city’s 200th anniversary in 2014 and development of Bicentennial Park in its honor; library renovations; new biking and walking trails; opening of Belleville Crossing and Green Mount Commons shopping centers; and maintenance of Mount Hope Cemetery after the owners stopped cutting the grass.
Eckert also faced challenges as mayor.
While Kern had recommended Eckert to succeed him in 2004, they parted ways politically in later years. Kern donated to the campaigns of City Council candidates who criticized Eckert’s administration.
Eckert fought to keep St. Elizabeth’s Hospital from leaving Belleville for a new location in O’Fallon, but a state board approved the move in 2015. The former hospital building in downtown Belleville was demolished. The site remains vacant today.
In May 2019, Eckert had to deal with Lindenwood University-Belleville’s announcement that it was closing its campus at the former Belleville West High School site on West Main Street. The city later bought the property and is converting it into a training center and office complex.
Eckert was mayor when the city spent $2.42 million to extend sewer lines as developers proposed a Hofbräuhaus German restaurant, hotels, other restaurants, soccer fields and a convenience store off Illinois 15. The Hofbräuhaus opened in 2018 but closed earlier this year. The other developments didn’t come to fruition.
Eckert served as president of the Illinois Municipal League in 2017 and 2018 and president of the Southwestern Illinois Council of Mayors from 2015 to 2017, in addition to his duties as Belleville’s mayor.
“I truly enjoy coming to work every day,” he said when he left office. “As a team, I think we accomplished a lot. It was an honor.”
