03/22/2026
Proclamation in Honor of Rosemary Macko Wisnosky, Resident of Naperville, for Exceptional Service to the Local and International Communities
WHEREAS; Rosemary Macko Wisnosky, resident of Naperville, Illinois, has honorably served local, national, and international communities as citizen, business woman, and volunteer for more than 46 years;
WHEREAS; Rosemary believed she had a responsibility to get involved in the community after she and her family moved here in 1980, she joined the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce in 1983 and became president of the chamber in 1988. In 1985, she founded RE/MAX Affiliates with two other partners and was admitted to the RE/MAX Hall of Fame in 1989. In 1988, Rosemary also became a member of the board of directors of the Naperville Area YMCA (later named the Heritage YMCA Group). She served as secretary for a time and continued to serve on its executive board. For several years, she was also chair of the Heritage YMCA’s Child Development Center Board of Directors. That same year, Rosemary became a founding board member of SciTech, an interactive technology hands-on science center in Aurora.
WHEREAS; In 1989, Rosemary became a member of the Rotary Club of Naperville and served on its International Committee for several years. In 1989, she also became a founding board member of the Slovak American Cultural Society of the Midwest;
WHEREAS; In 1993, Rosemary became a founding member of the Naperville Sister Cities Commission, serving as its chair in 1994. They were tasked to identify a city in an emerging democracy in Central or Eastern Europe to become a sister city with Naperville. Nitra has been our sister city since 1993, the very year that Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the independent Slovak and Czech Republics.
In 1993, 1996, and 1998, Rosemary was a member of the official Naperville delegation to Nitra. For her efforts and for her continuing support and promotion of the Naperville/Nitra Sister City relationship, she was named an Honorary Citizen of Nitra by the Nitra City Council in a ceremony in Nitra in 2000. She is one of three non-Slovak citizens to ever receive this award. In 2001, Rosemary and her husband, Dennis, each were awarded a Medal of Honor by the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in a ceremony in Washington, D.C.;
WHEREAS; In 1994, she became a member of the board of trustees for Benedictine University and continues to serve in that role.
WHEREAS; In 2002, Rosemary served as chairman of an ad hoc committee in Washington, D.C., which drafted a 13-point resolution, on behalf of fraternal organizations across the United States, in support of the Vilnius Group’s entry into NATO. In November of 2002, at the Prague Summit, seven of the ten-member Vilnius nations received invitations to join NATO, including Slovakia;
WHEREAS; Rosemary’s commitment to the environment has been demonstrated in many of her volunteer activities. From 2005 to 2006, she served on the Strategic Planning Task Force for The Conservation Foundation. In 2005, she earned a Naturalist Certificate in both the Naturalist Track and the Interpretive Track from The Morton Arboretum. She also became a member of DuPage Neighbors for Open Space, Clean Water and Clean Air and continued to help The Conservation Foundation in its efforts to protect the environment including in her role on the Conservation Foundations Advisory Concill for DuPage County.
WHEREAS; Rosemary Macko Wisnosky was installed as Honorary Consul of the Slovak Republic in May of 2012 and served in that position until January 29th 2026, with the approval of the U.S. Department of State and the Slovak Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. During those 14 years, she broadened her global understanding, assisted with signature verifications, and helped problem solving with Slovak family emergencies. She also promoted economic, tourism, and cultural relationships and welcomed official delegations from Slovakia as well as leading Naperville Political, Civic, Business, Church and Youth delegations to Slovakia.
WHEREAS; Throughout the years, Rosemary has earned numerous professional and civic awards, including; Naperville Jaycees Business Person of the Year (1986), RE/MAX Hall of Fame (admitted 1989), Citibank Crystal Award for Community Enhancement and Betterment (Naperville, 1996), King Svatopluk Medallion from the Lord Mayor, Vladimir Libant, for outstanding service to Nitra, Slovakia/Naperville, Illinois Sister Cities Relationship (1997), Lord Mayor of Nitra Award and Medallion from the Lord Mayor, Vladimir Libant, for outstanding contributions to the city of Nitra, Slovakia, (1998), and with her husband The Education Center’s 2018 George and Pat Pradel Humanitarian Award (2018).
THEREFORE; Mayor Scott Wehrli and the Naperville City Council proudly recognize Rosemary Macko Wisnosky for using her skills, knowledge, and energy to benefit others, and we honor her for her efforts to make this community and the world a better place.
