Former Chandler Mayor Jerry Brooks dies at 89

Former Chandler Mayor Jerry Brooks, an advocate of arts and culture in the city, has died. He was 89.

Brooks died on Jan. 14, according to a statement from the city announcing his death.

Brooks served on the Chandler City Council from 1982 to 1984 and as mayor from 1984 to 1988 following a 30-year military career.

During his time on the council, he was a proponent of creating a strong arts and culture program which he felt would attract top employers to the city.

He was instrumental in the construction of the performing arts center and still served on long-range planning for the center until recently, said Michelle Mac Lennan, general manager at the Chandler Center for the Arts.

“Without the vision of Mayor Jerry Brooks, Chandler Center for the Arts might not be here,” Mac Lennan said in the city statement. “He was a vital advocate and supporter of arts and culture in our community. Mayor Brooks’ vision, leadership and passion will continue to be an inspiration to all of us.”

Services will be held at 10 a.m. Feb. 1 at the arts center, 250 N. Arizona Ave.

Long military and political career

Jerrell W. Brooks was born in San Antonio, Texas, on Nov. 23, 1930, to Marion and Viola Brooks.

His family moved back to Arizona from Texas where his father was a teacher when he was about 1 year old.

Brooks attended Phoenix Union High School but never graduated, telling a city historian in a 2005 interview that he “was so enthusiastic about joining the service” that he essentially decided to run away from home. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1947 at age 17 inspired by his admiration for soldiers who served in WWII, he said.

He was discharged in 1950 and entered the U.S. Naval Academy where he studied for about 15 months before moving back to Arizona.

He married his first wife, Donna Garver, and returned to school, receiving his bachelor’s degree in construction engineering from Arizona State University in 1954.

Following graduation, he was commissioned in the U.S. Air Force through the university’s ROTC program.

He retired as a colonel in 1977 after 30 years of service.

Following his retirement, Brooks moved to Chandler and worked for Talley Industries and Waste Management.

He began his political career shortly after, serving on the council and then as mayor for much of the 1980s. 

During his time as mayor, Brooks saw Chandler grow from a sleepy farming community to a bustling job hob.

The city set the groundwork for future growth under his leadership, creating an airport masterplan to develop around the airport, annexing land in what is now south Chandler and building road and utility infrastructure to serve future residents.

Former Mayor Jay Tibshraeny, who served with Brooks from 1986 to 1988, said Brooks was cognizant of future growth and put in place policies to address that growth in the long run.

Tibshraeny said Brooks encouraged him to run for office in 1986 and supported him in his election bid.

While they had different leadership styles, he said Brooks taught him that shouldn’t get in the way of working together toward a common goal. It’s something he took with him when he became mayor years later.

He described Brooks as disciplined — a skill he gained during his time in the military — and said Brooks was one of Chandler’s biggest cheerleaders.

“I really loved his love of Chandler,” Tibshraeny said. “Even after he left office, he continued working for what was best for Chandler and stayed active in the community.”

Brooks and Tibshraeny faced off for the city’s top seat in 1996 but Tibshraeny said despite being political opponents at the time, they remained friends and continued to work together on community issues.

He said Brooks continued to serve as a mentor for him even after his retirement from politics and he would reach out to Brooks several times a year to get his take on “the topic of the day.”

Outside of his work at the city, Brooks was a longtime supporter of John McCain, working on several of his campaigns from 1981 to 2010. He served as chairman of then-Legislative District 21, which included parts of Chandler, from 2006 to 2010, and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2008.

Brooks retired from politics in 2012 but remained active in the community.

Passion for the arts

One of Brooks’s biggest passions was arts and culture.

He believed that to attract top employers a city needed to have a strong and vibrant arts scene, Mac Lennan said.

As mayor, Brooks helped secure land and funding for a performance arts center and helped nail down an agreement with the Chandler Unified School District to operate the center that could be used by students and residents, Mac Lennan said.

The Chandler Center for the Arts opened in 1989 and the city and school district still use the same agreement negotiated under Brooks’s leadership.

After leaving office, Brooks served as a board member emeritus for the Chandler Cultural Foundation, the nonprofit that serves as the programming and fundraising entity for the arts center. The foundation established the Jerry Brooks Legacy Society in 2011 in his honor to help financially support the center.

Mac Lennan said he was a regular at shows and one of his favorites was “In the Mood,” a celebration of swing jazz that included music from Glenn Miller, one of his favorite big-band era artists. He also loved to see military bands play, she said.

Mac Lennan, who has worked at the Center for the Arts for 20 years and called Brooks a mentor, said up until recently the pair would have lunch and “plot what was next for the center.”

“He was never satisfied. He wanted another theater built and we’re going to pursue those dreams, too,” she said.

Loss of Chandler statesman

Tibshraeny said he called Brooks about six weeks ago after hearing that he had fallen ill to express his gratitude for Brooks’s service.

“I told him I really appreciated his work on behalf of Chandler and I told him he was very important to Chandler and that people appreciated his efforts,” he said. “I wanted to impart that on him, that his efforts didn’t go unnoticed.”

Brooks is the second member of that late-1980s council group to die in the last two months. Former Chandler Mayor Coy Payne, who served on the council with Brooks, died on Dec. 8.

Another council colleague, Jerry McGhee, died in March 2019.  

Tibshraeny said their deaths represent a significant loss.

“It’s a big loss for Chandler and the community. He’s one of our senior statesmen and unfortunately, we’re losing them now,” he said. “It’s hard to watch.”

Brooks is survived by his wife, Sheila Brooks, daughters Nancy Littlewood and Paula Giles, son Barry Brooks, two sisters, four stepchildren, six grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Contributions may be made to the Chandler Center of the Arts – Jerry Brooks Legacy Fund or the Hospice of the Valley in his honor.

Reach reporter Paulina Pineda at paulina.pineda@azcentral.com or 602-444-8130. Follow her on Twitter: @paulinapineda22.

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