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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives were saddened to learn of the death of William | ||||||
| 4 | "Les" Brown of Chicago on April 11, 2005; and
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| 5 | WHEREAS, Mr. Brown was the founder of the Chicago Coalition | ||||||
| 6 | for the
Homeless, which he headed for over two decades; the | ||||||
| 7 | coalition, founded in 1980, strived towards improving the lives | ||||||
| 8 | of homeless and impoverished people throughout Chicago; and
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| 9 | WHEREAS, William "Les" Brown was born William Leslie Brown | ||||||
| 10 | in 1940, in Tampa, Florida; he grew up on a small farm in | ||||||
| 11 | Doraville, Georgia, where he developed his love for the | ||||||
| 12 | outdoors; and
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| 13 | WHEREAS, He earned a bachelor's degree from Erskine College | ||||||
| 14 | in South Carolina; he also received a master's degree in social | ||||||
| 15 | work from Loyola University Chicago; in between receiving the | ||||||
| 16 | two degrees, he enlisted in the Air Force and served as a | ||||||
| 17 | medical corpsman in England; and
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| 18 | WHEREAS, He was the first president of the Chicago | ||||||
| 19 | Coalition for the Homeless, later serving as its executive | ||||||
| 20 | director; from 1990 until his death, he served as the | ||||||
| 21 | coalition's director of policy; the coalition helped host the | ||||||
| 22 | first national conference on homelessness in Chicago in 1983; | ||||||
| 23 | and
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| 24 | WHEREAS, In 1984, he received a heart transplant at Loyola | ||||||
| 25 | University Medical Center in Maywood; he was the hospital's | ||||||
| 26 | longest surviving heart transplant recipient; and
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| 27 | WHEREAS, He was a founder and former president of the | ||||||
| 28 | Illinois Coalition for the Homeless; he was also a founding | ||||||
| 29 | board member of the newspaper, Streetwise, as well as a board | ||||||
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| 1 | member for other local and state groups advocating for | ||||||
| 2 | improving the lives of the homeless; and
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| 3 | WHEREAS, Mr. Brown served as director of social work | ||||||
| 4 | services for the Travelers and Immigrants Aid Society, which is | ||||||
| 5 | now the Heartland Alliance; he also documented the growing | ||||||
| 6 | number of homeless people living at the Greyhound bus terminal, | ||||||
| 7 | Union Station, and O'Hare Airport; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, His accomplishments include leading protests that | ||||||
| 9 | led to low-income apartment units being established in the | ||||||
| 10 | government-subsidized West Loop Presidential Towers complex; | ||||||
| 11 | he utilized a federal law to successfully acquire lakefront | ||||||
| 12 | land near Navy Pier; the land he acquired was originally to be | ||||||
| 13 | used as gardens to provide work for homeless people, but was | ||||||
| 14 | later exchanged for land on the South Side that became the | ||||||
| 15 | "Growing Home" agriculture job training program; and
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| 16 | WHEREAS, He also helped acquire 10 acres of land in | ||||||
| 17 | Marseilles that is currently farmed by homeless people from | ||||||
| 18 | Chicago; and
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| 19 | WHEREAS, Mr. Brown is survived by his wife, Diana Leifer; | ||||||
| 20 | his son, Jesse; his daughter, Mari Herreras-Zinman; his sister, | ||||||
| 21 | Claudia Lewis; and his two grandchildren; therefore, be it
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| 22 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 23 | NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 24 | we mourn the passing of William "Les" Brown along with all who | ||||||
| 25 | knew and loved him and extend our sincere condolences to his | ||||||
| 26 | family, friends, and community; and be it further
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| 27 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 28 | presented to the family of William "Les" Brown as an expression | ||||||
| 29 | of our deepest sympathy.
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