In 1977, Philadelphia Daily News columnist Tom Fox described the stature Mr. Stack had achieved in political circles through the scene at a St. Patrick's Day event.
"A lot of ambitious men riding dreams of winning public office or respected judgeships showed up at Mike Stack's party and knelt at the ward altar, praying that Mike Stack, who has a reputation for delivering the 58th Ward for the candidates he endorses, might say the right word," Fox wrote.
Fox playfully outlined the convoluted, and successful, way that Mr. Stack dealt with Mayor Frank L. Rizzo and his predecessor, James H.J. Tate.
Because Mr. Stack was lawyer to Tate, Rizzo removed him from a high-paying patronage appointment. Mr. Stack regained the legendary mayor's favor by challenging a Rizzo rival, F. Emmet Fitzpatrick, for district attorney - unsuccessfully - in 1973.
Mr. Stack, Fox wrote, "has been In and Out and back In again with Frank Rizzo and he will tell you that In is a lot, lot better."
In fact, Mr. Stack's son said in an interview, his father was most proud of his work as the campaign manager for Tate's re-election in 1967, when the Democratic Party abandoned Tate for City Controller Alexander Hemphill in the primary.
"Tate had a small handful of trusted operatives or friends and my dad was among them, and it took every political skill" possessed by Mr. Stack for Tate to win. Tate went on to claim the general election.
When Rizzo came to power in the early 1970s, Sen. Stack recalled, Rizzo tried to get rid of Mr. Stack, whom he lumped in with a group of Irish ward leaders whom Rizzo considered to be "a problem."
After failing to unseat Mr. Stack, Rizzo sought him out to gain his friendship, and from then on, "my dad became a friend and adviser," Sen. Stack said.
