Robert Vernon Sabonjian (1916–1992) was a politician who served as mayor of Waukegan, Illinois for six terms.
His father, Lazarus Sabonjian, worked for American Steel and Wire Co., where he eventually became a foreman.[1] Lazarus was born in Diyarbakır, in what was then the Ottoman Empire. He married Zaruhi. The family lived on Waukegan's South Side, the heart of the city's Armenian community.[2][3] The family name means "son of a soap-maker".
As a boy, Robert—known as Bob—was a boxer and wrestler who earned the nickname "the Rock".[4][2][5] He graduated from Waukegan Township High School and served with the Coast Guard during World War II.[1] In 1947, he married Lorene, whom he met at Great Lakes Naval Training Base.[6] Together, they opened a dry-cleaning business known as Dutch Mill Cleaners.[6] They also adopted two children, Dana and Robert.[6]
Sabonjian worked for some time as a television announcer for wrestling matches.[7]
He served as mayor of Waukegan over five terms between 1957 and 1977, and again between 1985 and 1989.[2] During this time he was often compared to Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley for a style of running the city that relied heavily on personal patronage.[2]
Early on in his career, Sabonjian received the ire of the Democratic party and the title of "maverick" for appointing Republicans to city jobs.[8]
In 1966, he played a controversial role in the city's unrest, during which he dismissed those involved as "junkheads and winos" and moreover blamed the NAACP. He also gave "shoot to kill" orders to police.[9][10]
He was initially affiliated with the Democratic Party, and ran a write-in campaign for United States Senate in 1966 against Paul Douglas and Charles Percy.[5] His campaign centered on calling for "ultimate victory" in Vietnam, and calling for civil rights protesters to stop complaining and start working.[11] He also called for sending unwed mothers to jail and placing their children in orphanages.[12] Of police tactics in response to riots, he called for "animals" to be treated like animals.[13] He assured voters that they need not spell his name correctly to have their vote count for him.[13]
As a supporter of businesses, Sabonjian attacked any suggestion that industry in Waukegan caused pollution, insisting, for example, that there was "no proof that PCBs were harmful."[14]
In 1969, he changed his affiliation to Republican in 1969 after the Democratic Party refused to endorse him for a fourth term.[1][5][15] He subsequently won with 75 percent of the vote.[5]
In 1970, he famously fired striking police officers. He also championed the expansion of Waukegan to the west, which included Lakehurst shopping center.[2][1] In total, the city expanded by some 20 square miles under Sabonjian's watch.[16]
In 1971, Sabonjian was subject to allegations of corruption, including collusion with gambling and prostitution interests.[5] He was cleared of these charges, but ordered by a grand jury to stop accepting a car free of charge from a local car dealership.[17]
In 1977, he lost the mayoral election to reformer Bill Morris. He left a photo of himself in the office with a note reading "Good luck, you Irish S.O.B. Bob."[18]
During his political comeback in 1985, Sabonjian boasted of how his supporters "came to the polls like locusts to vote for Bob Sabonjian."[9] After he was returned to the mayoral office, Sabonjian made headlines by firing Waukegan's environmental inspector and finance director, who were hired under Morris's administration.[4] Sabonjian also hired his daughter as an administrative assistant.[4] He claimed during this term that Waukegan was "becoming the French Riviera of the Midwest."[19] Sabonjian was also part of a plan to construct a stadium for the Chicago Bears on Waukegan's west side.[20]
Haig Paravonian took over the office of mayor after Sabonjian retired in 1989.[16]
Sabonjian died in Milwaukee in August 1992 after a stroke.[2] He was survived by his wife Lorene, his daughter Dana, and his son Robert Jr.[2] City buildings lowered flags to half staff in his memory.[2]
Sabonjian's son, Robert Jr. served as mayor of Waukegan from 2009 to 2013.
A portion of Madison Street was renamed Robert V. Sabonjian Place, and both City Hall and the Police Department are located there.[21][22]
Sabonjian's name was read in the Congressional Record by US Representative Robert McClory as a shining example of Waukegan's Armenian community, and in commemoration of the formation of the Armenian Republic in 1918.[23]