William A. Marovitz - Politician, Family and Family

William A. Marovitz was born on September 29, 1944, to Sydney Marovitz and his wife Jean. He has a brother named Robert.

His father was a Chicago attorney for over five decades and commissioner emeritus of the Chicago Park District. Sydney Marovitz also remained member of the Chicago Park District Board from 1974 to 1986.

His uncle Abraham Lincoln Marovitz served as a federal judge on the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. ‘The Honorable Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Public Interest Law Award’ bestowed by Chicago-Kent College of Law is named after Marovitz’s uncle.

In his political career spanning over four decades, Marovitz has won a total of nine elections.

He was elected twice to the Illinois House of Representatives from the 12th district on November 2, 1976 and November 7, 1978 respectively. He remained in office as Member of the Illinois House of Representatives from the 12th district from 1977 to 1980.

On November 4, 1980, he won Illinois State Senate elections and assumed office as Member of the Illinois Senate from the 3rd district in 1981. He went on to win three more elections on November 2, 1982, November 4, 1986 and November 8, 1988 and assumed office till he retired from Senate in 1993.

He was inducted as Senate Public Health Committee’s Vice Chairman and also served the Senate Judiciary Committee as its Chairman. Within a short time his legislative efforts and endeavours as an US Senator earned him accolades as one of the most respected and productive legislators of Illinois.

He remained the chief advocate for strict gun control legislation in Illinois while serving in the capacity of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Chairman. In fact, from 1975 to 1992, he supported almost every legislation on gun control in Illinois.

He suggested establishment of a law to implement trigger locks on hand guns, the first of its kind, so as to avoid children getting a ready access to such hazardous weapons. A legislation was passed by Marovitz as a Senator banning semi-automatic weapons.

While taking such steps, he didn’t mind being targeted by the ‘National Rifle Association’ of America, a prominent proponent for gun rights, in each of his elections.

He went further in authoring and passing the Instant Check Law in Illinois that mandated background check for criminal record of any person prior to giving him/her the right to buy a gun so as to avoid allowing criminals to have easy access to purchase guns.

Marovitz authored and passed the Hate Crimes law in Illinois that ensured legal action against crimes related with religion, race, sexual orientation and ethnicity.

He also authored and passed other legislations including the legislation to prosecute those committing crimes related to Elder Abuse and Ethnic Intimidation; the Illinois Crime Victims’ Compensation Act; and the first Safe School Zone law of the US, objective of which is to safeguard school areas from the clutches of weapons and drugs.

He served as Senate Stadium Sub-Committee’s Chairman and in such capacity remained instrumental in passing the legislation to develop the new White Sox Park, a baseball field in Chicago, Illinois.

He also played a significant role in developing the new United Centre for the Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago Bulls.

He remained instrumental in revoking the pre-marital aids test as also a strong advocate for the gay community emerging as the main promoter of the Gay Rights bill.

His legislative endeavours led him to receive many ‘Best Legislator’ awards from different Illinois based organisations including the Distinguished Service Award bestowed by the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence.

In 1993, he took retirement from the Senate to take forward his business efforts.

He got into the real estate business that saw him buying some posh properties in Chicago and developing such properties into apartment units, condominium units, retail spaces and parking slots forming and leading a consortium of renowned companies like ‘Near North Properties’, ‘Magellan Properties’, ‘American Invesco’ and ‘U.S. Equities’.

Working out with other realty projects, he also got into restaurant business that saw him co-owning the Chicago restaurants ‘Quartino’ and ‘Carnivale’. He also got associated with Rich Melman and Jerry A. Orzoff founded ‘Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises’ (LEYE) a famous group of restaurants in Chicago, Illinois, in many of its ventures as partner.

Although he retired from the Senate, he remained active in politics and on March 19, 2002 was elected as Central Committeeman.

On March 21, 2006, he was elected as an Illinois Central Committeeman for the Ninth Congressional District. He was re-elected in the capacity again on February 2, 2010. He remained the Vice Chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois.

He is associated with the Washington, D.C based government-relations firm ‘Cassidy and Associates’ as a senior consultant. He also serves many pension funds like the Laborer's Annuity and Benefit Fund and Municipal Employees Annuity and Benefit Fund in the capacity of a counsel.

He served as President of the ‘Marovitz Group’. He is a member of several organisations and institutes including the ‘Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence’, ‘DePaul University’, ‘Weizmann Institute of Science’, ‘Gene Siskel Film Center’ and ‘Anti-Defamation League’ among others.

He developed a program for the Chicago Public School system called Mentor a Child or MAC that aims at using resources of organisations and their employees to help developing and improving life of less privileged children.

His humanitarian side also comes to light from his charitable efforts in raising funds for underprivileged, retarded and handicapped children.

He is at present a committeeman of Central Committee of the state Democratic Party.

He married Christie Hefner in 1995. Till January 2009, Christie served as CEO of the American private global media and lifestyle company, Playboy Enterprises, Inc. founded by her father, Hugh Marston Hefner.

In 2012, the Securities Exchange Commission sued Marovitz for allegedly applying inside information in trading shares of Playboy illegally. He later went for an out of court settlement for $168,352.

In 2013, the couple separated.