By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Former Bloomington mayor Walt Bittner is being remembered for his many years of local service to the city.
Bittner, 97, died Wednesday at Martin Health Center in Bloomington.
Former mayor Rich Buchanan said Bittner had a faithfulness to the office that is impossible to emulate.
“Often mayors have to be proactive and even aggressive,” Buchanan said. “Walt was proactive but not aggressive.”
Bittner served 44 years on the city council, including time with former mayor Jesse Smart.
“He was a great public servant,” Smart said. “He was so loyal to the City of Bloomington and particularly the downtown because he lived to the west edge of downtown.”
Bittner was first elected to the council in 1953 and was later reappointed by Buchanan to the council after his two terms as mayor from 1969 to 1977.
Bittner owned Bittner’s Confectionary, served as vice president of National Bank of Bloomington and later worked for the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office in Springfield.
He and his wife’s former home on West Washington Street was turned into transitional housing for the homeless called Mayor’s Manor.
Buchanan recalled one incident where a woman called the mayor’s office to complain the snow plows kept plowing in her driveway.
“He grabbed a shovel and drove over, waited for the plow to come by a third time and scooped her driveway,” Buchanan said.
Buchanan added Bittner never did things like that for show.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.
