Joan W. Barr (née Worthy; later Barr-Smith; November 22, 1939 – March 21, 2015) was an American politician and the first woman elected as mayor of the city of Evanston, Illinois.
[1] Barr Smith was elected in 1985 and sworn into her position on April 22, 1985, by Cook County Circuit Judge Michael Toomin.
[3] Joan was the only child of James (a professor at Kellogg School of Management) and Mildred Louise Worthy (née Neritz).
[2] The amount of tax-exempt properties in the city was seen by the community as contributing to what was then one of the highest real estate taxes in the Chicago area.
[2] She also noted economic development,[10] improving the relationship between the city and Northwestern University;[11] street gangs and homelessness were priority areas for her tenure.
[9][12] Stemming from her work in establishing the research park, Barr was called "a consensus builder" by Evanston Inventure (a city-wide development corporation) executive director, Ronald Kysiak.