HR1168 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1168 LRB093 23204 KEF 53276 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives were saddened to learn of the death of Richard E. Wurtzinger of Oak Park on August 6, 2004; and

WHEREAS, Richard E. Wurtzinger was born and raised in Chicago; he attended St. Cyril and Methodius Grammar School and Lane Tech High School; he enrolled in the DeVry Institute of Technology in 1953 as an undergraduate student of electrical engineering; at the age of 19, he began his engineering career while still at DeVry; he worked as an engineer in the Cook Research Labs; and

WHEREAS, In 1957, he married his sweetheart, the late Frances Mary Black, whom he had known since the age of 5; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Wurtzinger worked on projects contracted out for the Mercury and Gemini programs at NASA and for the armed forces; he helped to design systems to recover space capsules from the ocean after re-entry into the atmosphere; he also worked on developing the first ejection seat for the F-104 fighter plane; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Wurtzinger worked for several technology-driven businesses, starting in 1965; he spent 15 years as a development engineer in Motorola Inc.'s engineering division and worked on Motorola's first line of cellular telephones; some of his other projects included work on the first highway camera surveillance systems, Mars lights for squad cars, and night-vision cameras; and

WHEREAS, In 1984, while working at VCS Inc. in Carol Stream, he invented an encoding apparatus for a closed-circuit television; the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent for the device, which allowed a viewer to track the orientation of a surveillance camera on a remote monitor screen; and

WHEREAS, In his spare time, he was an amateur ham-radio operator, a hobby he picked up in 1951; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Wurtzinger was an active member of his community serving on the advisory commission for the Village of Oak Park for many years, dealing with issues such as parking, traffic, and cable franchise agreements; and

WHEREAS, The passing of Richard E. Wurtzinger will be deeply felt by many, especially his two sons, James and Christopher; his sister, Linda Lou Bricker; and his granddaughter, Alyssa; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the death of Richard E. Wurtzinger along with all who knew and loved him and extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Richard E. Wurtzinger as a token of our deepest sympathy.