What is Ed Derwinski?
{{unsourced|date=July 2011}} {{Infobox US Cabinet official |name=Ed Derwinski |image=Ed_derwinski.jpg |imagesize=161 |order1=1st |title1=[[United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs]] |term_start1=March 15, 1989 |term_end1=September 26, 1992 |predecessor1=(''none'') |successor1=[[Jesse Brown]] |title2=[[Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs|Under Secretaries of State for International Security Affairs]] |term_start2=March 24, 1987 |term_end2=January 21, 1989 |predecessor2=[[William Schneider, Jr.]] |successor2=[[Reginald Bartholomew]] |state3=[[Illinois]] |district3={{ushr|Illinois|4}} |term_start3=January 3, 1959 |term_end3=January 3, 1983 |preceded3=[[William E. McVey]] |succeeded3=[[George M. O'Brien]] |birth_date=September 15, 1926 |birth_place=[[Chicago, Illinois]] |death_date=January 15, 2012 (aged 85) |death_place=Oak Brook, [[Illinois]] |death_cause = [[Merkel-cell carcinoma]] |party=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] |alma_mater=[[Loyola University Chicago]] |profession= |branch=[[United States Army]] |unit=[[Infantry]] |battles=[[World War II]] }} '''Edward Joseph Derwinski''' (born September 15, 1926; died January 15, 2012) was an American [[politician]]. He was the first [[United States Cabinet|Cabinet]]-level [[United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs]], serving under [[President of the United States|President]] [[George H. W. Bush]] from March 15, 1989, to September 26, 1992. Before that, he was a member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] from 1959 to 1983, representing the south and southwest suburbs of [[Chicago]]. == Politics == Derwinski served in the [[United States Army]] in the [[Pacific Theater of Operations|Pacific Theater]] during [[World War II]] and in the postwar [[Occupied Japan|U.S. occupation of Japan]]. He graduated from [[Loyola University Chicago]] in 1951. He was a member of the [[Alpha Delta Gamma]] Fraternity. In 1957 he was elected to the [[Illinois House of Representatives]], where he served one term befo