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Ed Rousseau, a longtime Allen County office holder who spent the majority of his adult life in an elected office has died. He was 76.
For years, Rousseau was considered the Allen County commissioner to be reckoned with.
Rousseau, a Republican, played a major role in several of the county's biggest undertakings, including establishing the income tax and bringing GM to Fort Wayne and the renovation and expansion of Memorial Coliseum.
When the county was debating the addition of an income tax, many were fiercely against it, but not County Councilman Rousseau. In front of a screaming mob, Rousseau decided he was going to give his side of the story.
"Through the whole talk, they were yelling and shouting and throwing pieces of paper," he told The Journal Gazette when he retired as county commissioner in 2004. "Anybody that stood up to that situation either was nuts or had a good idea of what they stood for. I was armed and had all the facts. I would take on anybody."
Working hard was Rousseau's lifelong mantra.
"I've worked at getting it right, get all the facts," he said in 2004. "Then it's a matter of you've got to go around and convince people. You're not going to be loved by everybody, (but) you've got to be right."
Politics was never Rousseau's ambition. His father owned a DeSoto-Plymouth dealership in Fort Wayne that Rousseau took over after graduating from Indiana University and serving in the Army in Germany during the Korean War. He ran the family business until the DeSoto line ended. He then went into real estate and was the first manager of Glenbrook Square.
Politics came to him, however, in 1963 when Rousseau noticed a former classmate from North Side High School was running for Fort Wayne City Council. Rousseau remembered the classmate had been kicked out of another school and transferred to North Side, so he signed up to run against him.
During his eight years on the council, he helped launch the Public Transportation Corp. and the Metropolitan Human Relations Commission, which investigates discrimination complaints.
After losing his seat on city council, Rousseau ran for Allen County Council and won. It was during his 14 years on the county council that he pushed for the county option income tax and helped bring GM to Fort Wayne - a move that he considers his biggest accomplishment.
"Harvester left and 26,000 people were unemployed in the county," he said in 2004. "When that was announced, everyone's heart started beating again. That essentially revived our economy."
In 1988, Rousseau sought a new office - county commissioner.
During his 16 years in the office, he found money for the Airport Expressway and worked to improve the Coliseum.
When he retired from elected office, he was presented with the Sagamore of the Wabash, which was then Indiana's highest honor.
"I ain't that good," Rousseau said during his retirement party in 2004. "I've been given credit for more than I've done."
After he retired as commissioner, he weighed in on the city's Harrison Square project and served for a short time on the Convention and Tourism Authority. In the time since his retirement from elected office, Rousseau has also served on the Local Government Efficiency Study Committee and has served on the Plaza Parking Garage Board.
Rousseau battled small-cell carcinoma, a type of incurable lung cancer, for years, but he didn't let it get in the way of being involved in civic life.
He was also a sports fan. In high school, he played football. And as an adult, he sponsored a Fort Wayne Senior League slow-pitch softball team named Rousseau.
Services for Rousseau are pending with D.O. McComb & Sons Funeral Home.
For more on this story see Monday's Journal Gazette or return to www.journalgazette.net.
