Derwinski, Edward Joseph,1926–2012, U.S. politican and government official, b. Chicago. After serving in the army during World War II, he graduated (1951) from Loyola Univ., Chicago, and was president (1950–75) of the family business, a savings and loan. A Republican, he was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1959 and served there until 1983. He then served in the State Dept., where he was an undersecretary from 1987 to 1989. From 1989 to 1992 he was the first secretary of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, which had began created from the Veterans Administration, a former independent agency.
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