Rod Blagojevich Sentence Commuted: A Bio Of Illinois’ Former Governor

CHICAGO (CBS) — President Trump commuted Rod Blagojevich’s 14-year prison sentence for corruption and he will soon be a free man.

Here is a primer on Blagojevich’s life.

Birthdate: 12/10/56 (63 years old). Born in Chicago to a Serbian immigrant father and first-generation Serbian mother. Father spent four years in a Nazi POW concentration camp in World War II.

Sibling: One brother, Robert (Rob)

Education: He transferred from Lane Tech High to Foreman High so he could play basketball. He admitted to being a mediocre student who got by on charm. He went to University of Tampa for two years before transferring to Northwestern (B.A. History 1979). Law school: Pepperdine in Malibu, California.

Family: Wife is Patricia Mell – daughter of former alderman Richard Mell and sister of Deb also a former 33rd ward alderman. He met Patti at fundraiser for her father. They married 2 years later and have two daughters,

Boxing: Fought as an amateur boxer for a little more than a year in the mid 1970s. Won first six fights. Lost seventh (technical knockout) and never fought again.

Congress: After serving in the Illinois state house, he easily won three terms in the U.S. House, beginning in 1996 through 2002.

Governor: Won first term in 2002 and easily won re-election six years later. Blago as governor was not well-liked by insiders or the public. He burned bridges with his biggest, most powerful supporters, including his father-in-law, Dick Mell, who basically made him a politician.

Arrested: The FBI arrested Blagojevich in December, 2008 and charged him with multiple corruption charges. He was soon impeached and removed from office. He was convicted in a second trial and sentenced to 14 years in a Colorado federal prison, where he reported in March 2012. Sentence communted on Feb. 18, 2020.

Apprentice: He appeared on Trump’s TV show “The Apprentice” (Season 9) but was fired in episode four.