HR0881 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0881 LRB102 28024 LAW 39823 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of former Illinois State Representative and United States Congressman John Edward Porter of Alexandria, Virginia, formerly of Evanston, who passed away on June 3, 2022 at the age of 87; and

WHEREAS, Congressman Porter was born in Evanston on June 1, 1935; he graduated from Evanston Township High School; he then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; he received his Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University in 1957; he served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1958 to 1964; he earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1961, where he made Law Review and graduated with distinction; passing the bar, he commenced the practice of law in Illinois; and

WHEREAS, As an Evanston community leader, Congressman Porter served as a director or an officer of the United Community Services of Evanston, the Evanston March of Dimes, the Southeast Evanston Association, the East Evanston Community Conference, the University Club of Evanston, the Evanston Historical Society, the Cove School for children with challenges, and the Evanston YMCA; and

WHEREAS, Congressman Porter ran and won as a Republican in the Illinois House of Representatives in the first election following the redistricting of the Illinois House and the Illinois Senate after the 1970 census; he served as a member of the Illinois House from 1973 to 1979, specializing in issues of conservation, fiscal restraint, and the criminal justice system; during his tenure, his voting record was honored by the League of Conservation Voters in 1973, the Independent Voters of Illinois in 1974, and the Chicago Crime Commission in 1976; and

WHEREAS, Congressman Porter successfully ran as a Republican for the vacancy in the then 10th U.S. House District within the State of Illinois due to the appointment and confirmation of Congressman Abner J. Mikva to the U.S. Court of Appeals in September 1979; he joined the U.S. House of Representatives on January 22, 1980; and

WHEREAS, Congressman Porter, as a member of Congress representing the North Shore of the Chicago metropolitan area and one of the best-educated U.S. House districts in the nation, found himself asked to speak out on a variety of issues, including issues of a bipartisan nature; and

WHEREAS, Congressman Porter won a coveted seat on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, which gave him an insider's voice on federal budget policy; his voice grew as time passed alongside the growth in numbers of his fellow Republicans in Congress; and

WHEREAS, Through seniority and his own expertise, Congressman Porter rose to become the chairperson of the federal House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, giving him sign-off power over sections of the federal budget worth hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars; throughout this period, he continued to speak out as a voice for public sector fiscal restraint; and

WHEREAS, Congressman Porter became an advocate for growth and change in the 1980s and 1990s; when scientists came to him concerning advances in large-molecule research capabilities, he worked with them to achieve greater funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH); his efforts allowed the NIH to pursue the Human Genome Project, which was aimed at identifying, mapping, and sequencing the DNA of the entire human genome, and the organization declared a complete genome had been sequenced in May 2021; and

WHEREAS, Congressman Porter also remembered Northwestern University while working in Congress, securing funding for the Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center on the Northwestern Medical Campus in downtown Chicago and funding for the Pancoe-NSUHS Life Sciences Pavilion in Evanston; and

WHEREAS, Congressman Porter, after two decades in Congress, did not run for re-election in 2000; he was named as a recipient of the Mary Lasker Public Service Award for wise and perceptive leadership on behalf of medical research funding in 2000; he was also chosen as the namesake of the NIH's Neuroscience Research Center in Bethesda, Maryland in March 2014; and

WHEREAS, Upon his retirement in January 2001, Congressman Porter joined the Washington, D.C.-based private sector, practicing law and serving as an advisor to many policymaking and advisory institutions and panels; and

WHEREAS, Congressman Porter's legacy will live on in a myriad of ways; he helped many individuals get started in public service and professional life; he served as a mentor to young Congressional staff member Mark Kirk, who succeeded him in Congress as the U.S. Representative of Illinois' 10th District in 2001 before serving Illinois as a U.S. Senator from December 2010 to January 2017; he was a voice of fiscal restraint and forward vision and advocated for action on issues of global importance, which will have a lasting impact on the State of Illinois, the nation, and humankind; and

WHEREAS, Congressman Porter is survived by his spouse, Amy; his children and stepchildren, John, David, Annie, Robyn, Donna, McKay, and Michelle; and his 14 grandchildren; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of former Illinois State Representative and United States Congressman John Edward Porter and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to Congressman Porter's spouse, Amy, and his son, David Porter, as an expression of our deepest sympathy.