Bernard Ford was a longtime transit executive who led the Chicago Transit Authority as its executive director from 1982 until 1985, and again from 1989 until 1990.
Ford started out in the CTA’s personnel department, and later oversaw operations and then was the executive director of the Regional Transportation Authority before returning to the CTA as its operating chief.
“Bernie was the ultimate adviser,” said Stephen Schlickman, the former CTA director of government relations and legislative counsel and a former colleague. “What he said needed to get done was done — he had total credibility. And he was the ultimate professional adviser — he surrounded himself with bright people, and he worked with politicians to solve problems.”
Ford, 89, died of natural causes on July 24 at Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital, said his son, B.J. He had been a longtime West Rogers Park resident.
Born in Chicago in 1936, Ford grew up on the North Side and graduated in 1954 from the now-shuttered St. Benedict High School. Ford then attended the University of Notre Dame, Northwestern University and Loyola University Chicago.
Ford served in the Army for a time at Fort Riley in Kansas. After his discharge from the Army, Ford joined the CTA in 1956, first as a training assistant. He was then promoted to be superintendent of personnel, responsible for hiring professional, administrative and operating staff. Later roles included being a special assistant to the CTA’s chairman, Milton Pikarsky, and then as the agency’s chief administrative officer.
Ford’s son recalled his father needing to continually operate an “el” train himself around the Loop during the worst of the January 1967 blizzard, to keep the tracks clear.
“That was his dedication to service,” B.J. Ford said. “We saw him almost two days later.”
In 1976, Ford moved to the RTA when he was hired to be a special assistant and chief of staff for Pikarsky, who in 1975 had become the RTA’s first chairman. The following year, Ford was named director of operations for the RTA, and his duties included stabilizing the operations of several bankrupt suburban bus operations and rehabilitating and ultimately acquiring right-of-way from the estate of the bankrupt Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad.
Ford also negotiated contracts to operate other suburban commuter railroad service, including with the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company, the Burlington Northern Railroad and the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, or the Milwaukee Road. He was named the RTA’s general manager, or its executive director, in 1979, replacing Leo Cusick.
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“Bernie was interested in all aspects of the business, but he was kind of a quiet person. He would engage (with others), but he wasn’t loud and overly assertive,” said Joanne Schroeder, a former RTA planning chief. “He just quietly assumed more and more responsibility at the RTA. People enjoyed working with Bernie.”
Chicago’s then-mayor, Jane Byrne, recruited Ford to return to the CTA in 1982 amid a financial crisis.
“It was a funding fiasco that the governor and legislature failed to address, and he was our guiding light through that process,” Schlickman said.
Ford worked to right the ship at the CTA before leaving in June 1985 to pursue work in the private sector. News accounts from the time also noted that Ford at times had butted heads with the CTA’s then-chairman, Michael Cardilli, who had been consolidating more administrative control of the CTA in his office and relying less on professional staff.
From 1985 until 1988, Ford was president of a local engineering firm, Baker Engineering. In early 1989, the CTA ousted its executive director and rehired Ford, this time as a consultant and as the agency’s acting operating chief. He remained in the job on his second tour of duty for 16 months, a time when he was credited with reversing a significant decline in CTA ridership.
Ford returned to the private sector in 1990, working as a senior vice president for McDonough Associates, an engineering firm. In that role, Ford spent a significant amount of time consulting on public-sector work, including the downtown circulator project, the CTA’s rehabilitation of the Green Line, the construction of Millennium Park and the construction of John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County.
“Bernie and Jim McDonough were both very thrilled with what they were able to accomplish with Millennium Park,” Schroeder said.
Ford also consulted with the city on runway work and related components at O’Hare International Airport. Kitty Freidheim, the former head of airport planning for the city, recalled working closely with Ford on those efforts.
“He was always someone who was willing to solve problems,” she said. “It was a delight to work with him because he brought that strength to the table, and the results were always very positive. He was a true gentleman.”
Ford’s son said his father enjoyed the latter part of his career, which entailed “building infrastructure instead of running a (government) team that relied on it.”
Outside of work, Ford had been a longtime member of the board of the American Public Transportation Association, as well as on the advisory board of the Metropolitan Planning Council. He also was very active with his high school graduating class, regularly hosting reunions, his son said.
After retiring from McDonough Associates in 2010, Ford enjoyed reading, spending time with his wife and visiting Italy for about a month each year, his son said.
Ford’s wife, Edna, died in 2018. In addition to his son, Ford is survived by two daughters, Beth Ford and Susan Ford-McDonald; eight grandchildren; and a brother, Dennis.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.