HR0226 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0226 LRB094 11726 HSS 43858 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, "Million Dollar Baby", a film about a female boxer, her hard-boiled trainer, and the trainer's right-hand man, won Academy Awards in the best picture, best actress, best supporting actor, and best director categories; and

WHEREAS, "Million Dollar Baby" is the latest in a series of hits from producer Tom Rosenberg of Chicago; he is the founder and chairman of Lakeshore Entertainment and was the producer of "Million Dollar Baby"; and

WHEREAS, He was born to outgoing, gregarious parents; his mother, tragically, died when he was 15; his father, Thomas, served as alderman of the 44th Ward and was also a Cook County Circuit Judge; and

WHEREAS, Tom Rosenberg grew up on Chicago's North Side and attended Lake View High School, then the University of Wisconsin at Madison; he worked as a public school teacher, moved on to law school at the University of California at Berkeley, and then became a country lawyer in the Ozark mountain town of Willow Springs in southern Missouri; and

WHEREAS, He went on to work in real estate, and in 1977 he launched a firm named Capital Associates with a partner; their first housing development went up in Decatur; and

WHEREAS, As one of Chicago's most active and successful real estate developers, Mr. Rosenberg built 54 buildings in-state and out-of-state, in addition to overseeing the city's largest-ever school construction program; and

WHEREAS, He represented West Side residents and the City of Chicago in negotiations with the Bulls and Blackhawks before the United Center was built; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Rosenberg has ventured into the political realm as well; he advised Chicago mayors dating from Jane Byrne to Richard M. Daley; in 1984, Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale asked Mr. Rosenberg to oversee much of his Midwestern campaign; and

WHEREAS, He was initially hesitant to enter the world of film production, but he and a childhood friend started the company Beacon Communications and chose as their first project an adaptation of Roddy Doyle's novel, "The Commitments"; the film was directed by Alan Parker and released in 1991 and was the first hit for Beacon; and

WHEREAS, In 1994, Beacon was sold to the public company Comsat, and Mr. Rosenberg founded Lakeshore Entertainment on his own; his impressive string of hits includes "The Commitments", "Runaway Bride", "The Human Stain", "Underworld", and now, "Million Dollar Baby"; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Tom Rosenberg on his lifetime of accomplishment and on his recent Academy Awards success with his movie, "Million Dollar Baby"; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Mr. Rosenberg as an expression of our respect and esteem.