Former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley hospitalized

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS (BNO NEWS) -- Former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was hospitalized late Friday after falling ill while returning from a business trip in Arizona, a family spokesman said on Saturday. Details about his condition or the nature of his illness were not immediately disclosed.

Daley, 71, was taken by ambulance to Northwestern Memorial Hospital on late Friday after his private jet landed at Chicago Midway International Airport, returning from Arizona where he had attended a conference. He was able to walk off the plane unassisted, WBBM-TV reported.

"He is in Northwestern's ICU (intensive care unit) for monitoring and evaluation. Mayor Daley's family is with him and they are visiting between tests," according to family spokesman Rick Jasculca, who declined to provide other details about the condition of the city's longest-serving mayor.

Daley, the 54th Mayor of Chicago, served as Chicago's chief executive from April 1989 until May 2011, when he was succeeded by Rahm Emanuel. Prior to serving as mayor, Daley served in the Illinois Senate from 1972 until 1980 and then as the Cook County State's Attorney until 1989.

Chicago is the third largest city in the United States.

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