William Wascher was a part of Illinois Gov. Dan Walker’s administration in the 1970s before playing a key role in the early years of operation of the Rosemont Horizon, now the Allstate Arena.
“Bill was my guy who kept the trains running on time,” said Paul Johnson, the first general manager of the multipurpose arena on Mannheim Road in Rosemont. “Over time, what Bill became was the assistant general manager.”
Wascher, 74, died after a short illness on May 22 at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, said his brother, Jim. He had been a Cathedral City, California, resident.
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Born William Degen Wascher in Chicago, Wascher grew up in Wilmette and graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka in 1966. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in December 1969.
With an interest in politics, he volunteered for Donald Rumsfeld’s first congressional campaign in 1962 and for Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign in 1964. His first job out of college was working on the first Senate campaign of Adlai E. Stevenson III in 1970, housesitting for Stevenson and his wife when they traveled, his brother said.
After Stevenson was elected, Wascher worked in Stevenson’s Senate office in Washington, D.C., in 1971 and early 1972 before returning to Illinois to work on Walker’s successful 1972 gubernatorial campaign. Once Walker took office, Wascher worked as assistant to the governor and as assistant director of the state’s business and economic development department.
Wascher was also chief of protocol at the executive mansion, said Len Sherman, another member of Walker’s administration.
“He was meticulous and organized, and he engaged very well with people and brought enthusiasm,” said Sherman, who years later was the director of the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. “And he was certainly loyal.”
Sherman said that Wascher’s North Shore upbringing helped make him “the class act of the administration.”
“He could reach out to society people,” Sherman said. “And he was sort of a jack-of-all-trades — he also was everybody’s detail person, so he would straighten out whatever anybody else wrecked. He was the go-between for a lot of the staff.”
Late in Walker’s lone term as governor, Wascher moved to Brazil to work as assistant director of the Illinois Department of Business and Economic Development’s office in Sao Paulo.
After Walker lost his bid for reelection, Wascher moved to New York and worked for Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute in 1977 and 1978, his brother said. Wascher returned to Chicago in late 1979 to join the staff of the Rosemont Horizon arena, which opened to the public in May 1980.
“Bill was really key in a staff that only had six or seven people — we weren’t Madison Square Garden or anything,” Johnson said. “And he was the kind of guy who would come in (to my office) and say, ‘Hey, I saw we were thinking about this — have you thought about doing it this way?’ And then we’d talk about an idea for an event and who would be a good sponsor.”
Afternoon Briefing
After the village of Rosemont decided to change the arena’s management, Wascher and other staffers left the Rosemont Horizon at the end of 1985. He moved to New Orleans to work at a hotel in the French Quarter, and he eventually became the hotel’s manager.
Wascher then relocated to Key West, Florida, to manage a resort there, Alexander’s Guesthouse. Health issues prompted Wascher to retire early, in the early 1990s, his brother said.
During retirement, Wascher moved to San Francisco, then to Rancho Mirage, California, and finally to Cathedral City.
In addition to his brother, Wascher is survived by his husband of almost 10 years, Mike Sparks.
There were no services.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
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