Abner Mikva's Favorite Things (Evanston, Letters, Congress) Combine At Davis Street Post Office

EVANSTON, IL — The post office on Davis Street was dedicated as the Abner J. Mikva Post Office Building after a ceremony Monday, adopting the name of the late Illinois political legend and Obama mentor.

Over more than forty years in politics, Mikva served in all three branches of government. He began as an Illinois state representative in 1956, later serving as a congressman for Hyde Park and later Evanston, before being appointed to become a federal judge by President Jimmy Carter and chief White House lawyer by Bill Clinton.

He later taught law at the Northwestern University and the University of Chicago, where he first met a young law professor named Barack Obama who would in 2014 award Mikva the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Mikva died at the age of 90 last year on July 4. Within two weeks, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky introduced legislation to rename the Davis Street post office. It was signed by former President Obama last December. Schakowsky, who said she had been a "low-level volunteer" for Mikva, described him as an "indispensable role model and mentor," who inspired her to get involved in politics, according to Evanston Now.

His daughter Mary Mikva, who serves as a Cook County judge, said at the dedication ceremony the post office combines three of her father's favorite things: Congress, mail and Evanston. The family has yet to pick out a gravestone, but she said the newly named post office could function as a lasting memorial, according to the Daily Northwestern.

"The place I would rather go to remember him is here in the City of Evanston that he loved so much."