SR0613 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0613 LRB101 13586 ALS 62439 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Ralph Louis Langenheim Jr. of Urbana, who passed away on August 3, 2019; and

WHEREAS, Ralph Langenheim Jr. was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to Ralph Louis and Myrtle (Helmers) Langenheim on May 26, 1922; he received his bachelor's degree from the University of Tulsa in 1943, his master's degree from the University of Colorado in 1947, and his doctorate from the University of Minnesota in 1951; and

WHEREAS, Ralph Langenheim Jr. served as an officer in the United States Navy during World War II; after training at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, he participated in the D-Day landings; he retired from the Navy Reserve as a lieutenant commander; and

WHEREAS, Ralph Langenheim Jr. began his career in education as an assistant professor at Coe College in Iowa; he then served as an assistant professor of paleontology at the University of California, Berkeley; he then accepted a position as professor of geology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; there, he was named professor emeritus in 1993; and

WHEREAS, Ralph Langenheim Jr. worked with the Instituto Gelologico Nacional de Colombia, the Geological Survey of Canada, the Geological Survey of Iran, the Geological Survey of the Republic of China, and the Polytechnic University of Albania; he served as a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and as the book review editor of Geological Education; he received the Rudolph Eric Raspe Medal from the Institute Geometaphysik Neuschwanstein; he was the curator of fossil invertebrates at the National History Museum and a partner at Lanman Associates Consultant Geologists; and

WHEREAS, Ralph Langenheim Jr. was a member of many professional organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Paleontological Society, the Geological Society of America, the Society for Sedimentary Geology, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the International Association of Cnidaria Specialists, the Illinois Academy of Sciences, the Explorers Club, and the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory; he was also a member of the Naval Institute, the Rotary Club, the Exchange Club, the Reserve Officer Association, the National Association of the United States Ship Landing Craft Infantry, and Sigma Xi; and

WHEREAS, Ralph Langenheim Jr. served on the Champaign County Board from 1998 until 2014, where he was a member of the Environment and Land Use Committee and the Highway and Transportation Committee; he was the Champaign County Mahomet Aquifer Consortium representative and served on the Champaign-Urbana Urban Area Transportation System Committee and the Human Services Committee; he was a precinct committee representative in Savoy; during every Fourth of July parade, he happily carried the American flag at the head of the Democratic Party; and

WHEREAS, Ralph Langenheim Jr. is survived by his wife, Mary Casey Diana; his children, Victoria Langenheim and Ralph Langenheim; his stepchildren, Eric Steckler and Matthew Diana; his granddaughter, Emma Lengenheim; and his step-grandchildren, Logan Hodges, Eric Applequist, and Stella and Scarlett Steckler; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Ralph Louis Langenheim Jr. and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Ralph Langenheim Jr. as an expression of our esteem and respect.