Ed Pawlowski is an American politician who served as the 41st Mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania. He held the office from 2006 until his resignation in 2018, following his election to a fourth term in 2017. He resigned after he was convicted on 47 federal charges related to corruption at city hall. On April 17, 2015, Pawlowski announced that he would run for the U.S. Senate in 2016, but he suspended his campaign the following July. He was a candidate for Pennsylvania governor in 2014, but dropped out of the race in February after "it became clear that he was not going to be able to raise the necessary money." Early life and education Ed Pawlowski was born to small business owners in Chicago. The family owned and operated a popular Polish restaurant on the city's North Side. Pawlowski attended school in Chicago and Addison, Illinois, where he earned his high school diploma in 1983. Following his high school graduation, he enrolled at Moody Bible Institute, in Chicago, Illinois, where he received his bachelor's degree. He went on to earn a master's degree in urban planning and public policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Personal life Pawlowski has been married for 25 years to Lisa, a community activist and licensed social worker in Allentown, who he met at Moody. They have two children, both of whom attend Allentown public schools. Early career and first mayoral election After his years at MBI, Pawlowski then worked as a community organizer in Chicago's Southwest Side, focusing on helping residents find quality, affordable housing and improving their quality of life. Pawlowski then enrolled at the University of Illinois to pursue his master's degree in urban planning and public policy. He was then hired to be the executive director of Windows of Opportunity, the non-profit subsidiary of the Chicago Housing Authority, where he supervised the development of special programs and self-sufficiency projects designed to help Chicago's public housing residents, which at the time numbered more than 100,000. In 1996 he became executive director of Lehigh Housing Development Corporation, a regional community development corporation later known as Alliance for Building Communities. He was eventually appointed to the post of Director of Community and Economic Development for the City of Allentown by then-mayor Roy Afflerbach. Pawlowski was elected to his first term as mayor in 2005 by popular vote. Pawlowski was the first candidate for mayor