Mary Ann Smith (November 2, 1946 – July 31, 2024) was an alderman of the 48th ward of the City of Chicago; she was appointed in 1989 by Mayor Richard M. Daley to replace Kathy Osterman. She won re-election in 1991, and was re-elected four more times before retiring in 2011. She served as a member of the Chicago Commission on Landmarks.
Early life
Smith attended the now-defunct College of Saint Teresa from 1964 until 1967, and later earned a bachelor's degree from Mundelein College, now a part of Loyola University Chicago, as an undergraduate student. She was reelected in 1991,
In 2000, Smith helped organize the funding for Walkable Edgewater. Smith earned an award from the Chicago Civic Federation and a Soles and Spokes award from the Chicago Area Transportation Study.
Smith was an early supporter of the Human Rights Ordinance and the Domestic Partner Ordinance.
In 2005 Smith was instrumental in the controversial decision to open Rickover Naval Academy in the facilities of Senn High School. This decision met with intense opposition from residents and anti-war activists concerned about military recruitment of the community's poor.
Smith worked with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to draft the proposed Elephant Protection Ordinance, which if adopted would mandate humane treatment of elephants within the city. After two unsuccessful attempts at passage, Smith on December 16, 2009, for the third time introduced the ordinance.
In 2007 Smith ran unopposed for re-election to a fifth term after Smith got two of her supporters, Susanne J. Henning and Albert L. Lewis, to file with the Chicago Board of Elections objections to her opponent's nominating paperwork.
Smith was one of the top three alderman lagging in spending so-called "aldermanic menu" funds, which allows aldermen to choose from a menu of street, sidewalk, alley and anti-crime improvements.
Smith appeared in the documentary Uptown: Portrait of a Palace about Chicago's Uptown Theatre.
On July 2, 2010, in response to the overturning of the Chicago handgun ban by the Supreme Court, she said "that law was written for militias and, "they guaranteed the right to carry around muskets not Uzis."
Honors
Smith earned a United Nations Programme Award for Citizen Action to Protect the Global Environment, an award from the Chicago Civic Federation, and a Soles and Spokes award from the Chicago Area Transportation Study.
In 1997 Smith was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame as a Friend of the Community.
Personal life
Smith's husband, Ronald C. Smith, was a professor at John Marshall Law School. He died in 2018.