Larry Morrissey was elected Mayor of Rockford on April 5, 2005 at the age of 35. Morrissey's course to the Mayor's office followed an unconventional path. He ran and was elected as an independent candidate. Morrissey held no political office prior to the Mayor's office, but he had been active in numerous grass-roots organizations and neighborhood groups.

Born and raised on Rockford's northeast side, Morrissey is the son of Joseph A. Morrissey and Josephine (Matranga) Morrissey. Mayor Morrissey's Mother, Josephine, has been a lifelong Rockford resident. She and Mayor Morrissey's father spent the first nine years of their marriage living on Rockford's Southwest side and moved to the Northeast side shortly before Mayor Morrissey was born. Mayor Morrissey grew up on Rockford's Northeast side with his older brother Bill and older sister Eileen.

He graduated from Boylan Catholic High School in 1987, where he finished in the top 10 of his class. He went on to graduate from the University of Notre Dame, Magna Cum Laude, in 1991 and he received his law degree Cum Laude from the University of Illinois in 1995.

Morrissey began his legal career in Chicago where he practiced civil litigation. He returned to Rockford during the summer of 1997 to practice in the family firm, Morrissey Law Offices. Shortly after returning to Rockford, Mayor Morrissey became involved in numerous community activities. He was president of the Downtown River District organization and a member of the Southwest Rockford neighborhood group, SWIFTT. Mayor Morrissey also was a charter member of a grass-roots transportation advocacy group, the Greater Rockford Transportation Coalition, where he has advocated for smart-growth transportation solutions including bringing passenger rail service back to Rockford. Morrissey was also a past board member of the Rockford Area Chamber of Commerce, the Rockford Area Convention and Visitor's Bureau, the River District Association, and the Goodwill Industries/Abilities Center. Mayor Morrissey was also appointed as a founding member of the Winnebago County Crime and Public Safety Commission.

Prior to becoming Mayor, Morrissey's professional career involved practicing law in the area of civil litigation and leading his family's urban real estate development efforts. He is professionally licensed to practice law in both State and Federal courts in the State of Illinois and is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Association for Justice (formerly the American Trial Lawyers Association), the Illinois Bar Association, the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, and the Winnebago County Bar Association.

The Mayor currently serves as a Board Member for the Rockford Area Economic Development Council, the Rockford Chamber of Commerce, and is a CEO Member of the Workforce Investment Board. He is a Municipal Member of the Regional Transit Authority's "Moving Beyond Congestion Initiative", the Northern Illinois Mayor's Association, the Midwest High Speed Rail Association, the Congress of New Urbanism (CNU), and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

He is the Directing Member of both the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council and the Mayor's Minority Advisory Council, a Policy Committee Member of the Rockford Area Transportation Study (RATS), and the Public Director for the American Institute of Architects' Illinois Chapter.

Morrissey was unsuccessful in his first bid for Mayor in 2001, but that campaign was a foundation for his successful campaign in 2005 where he captured eleven of fourteen wards and won by a decisive 14-point margin. Mayor Morrissey's agenda for the City of Rockford includes a strong emphasis on job creation through improving Rockford's education system, improving public safety, and making core investments in Rockford's infrastructure; what he refers to as the four R's: roads, rail, fiber optic ring and riverfront development. Mayor Morrissey has an aggressive and inclusive leadership style, working through neighborhood groups and inviting public participation to improve the City of Rockford.

Mayor Morrissey lives in Rockford's historic Haight Village in a renovated Victorian home with his wife Stacy and stepdaughter Seanna.