After 40 years at the helm, Anita Cummings is retiring from her leadership role in the United Business Association of Midway, which she helped found in 1985.
Cummings has been an active community resident since she and her husband, John, moved to the Clearing neighborhood 58 years ago. The mother of four began her career as an English teacher in Chicago public and parochial schools from 1965 to 1979.
Of all her community activities, she is most proud of what her team at UBAM has accomplished in supporting and developing a strong business community in the Midway Airport area. UBAM was a driving force behind the revitalization of Midway Airport in the 1980s.
By the late 1970s, Midway International Airport—once the busiest in the world—had been largely abandoned by major airlines. The revitalization began in 1979 when the first Midway Airlines, a new start-up, moved in.
Cummings’ work with the airport started even before UBAM was formed. Before opening her AM Consulting business in 1984, she helped launch Midway Airlines as personnel director from 1982 to 1984. Her role included hiring and staffing most of the new airlines filling Midway Airport gates. She then worked with Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines, to secure gates once held by Midway Airlines. Southwest remains an anchor airline at Midway.
Along with the airport’s revitalization came the development of the nearby Midway Hotel Center on Cicero Avenue south of 65th Street in Bedford Park. Jack Weglarz, patriarch of the Weglarz family of real estate developers, was a UBAM board member.
“We supported Jack’s vision and assisted him as he worked to build a multi-hotel center. UBAM worked against the third-airport plans of elected leaders that would have diminished the growth of Midway Airport and minimized the success of the hotel center,” Cummings said.
UBAM also helped revitalize sections of 63rd Street south and southwest of the airport, securing an Illinois Main Street designation for that area. The organization created UBAM Park, just west of Midway Airport, in the 6200 block of South Central Avenue through a partnership with NeighborSpace.
UBAM strives to help residents and business owners around Midway Airport. Each year, UBAM gives back through its Something for Seniors program, working with the Chicago Lawn (8th) District police station to identify needy seniors and provide holiday food baskets. Cummings plans to lead the 26th annual Something for Seniors event this year before stepping down at the end of December.
Over the years, Cummings has worked closely with many elected officials at the local, city, county, and state levels. She ran for a state Senate seat in 1992.
Her community contributions have been recognized through appointments to many boards, including the Midway Airport Terminal Development Program, Illinois Civil Service Commission, Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, NeighborSpace Board of Directors, and as board chairperson of the Southwest Home Equity Assurance Program.
“I think Anita is a legend. In many ways she contributed to the development of Midway Airport and the surrounding area,” said Sharon Jeninga, a longtime UBAM board member and owner of Foran Funeral Home in Summit.
“She is a great innovator and coordinator. She is a visionary, and she will be missed,” Jeninga said. She has been an active UBAM member since her family bought the funeral home in 1986.