SR0034 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0034 LRB095 07533 KXB 27683 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Joseph B. Cicero of the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago, who passed away on January 12, 2007; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Cicero was born in Chicago in 1938; he was a graduate of Amundsen High School, where he played center on the football team; he was a 1960 graduate of the University of Illinois and a 1963 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Cicero worked as a labor-union attorney for the Central States Joint Board AFL-CIO until 1976, when he took the full-time position of executive director of the North River Commission, an umbrella organization made up of about 100 smaller neighborhood organizations, he retired from that position after 21 years; and

WHEREAS, Joseph Cicero worked to save the Northwest Side nature preserve from developers in the early 1970s; today the property is known as North Park Village, and includes a park, fitness center, educational facilities, subsidized senior citizen housing, and 46 acres of nature preserve; and

WHEREAS, He is also responsible for revitalizing the Albany Park area when others were giving up the community; he pushed for the opening of a gifted student high school, resulting in Northside College Preparatory High School opening in 1999; and

WHEREAS, Joseph B. Cicero is survived by his wife, Marilyn nee Karpinski; his children, Marc (Lindsey), Lisa (Matt) Wilson, and Erica (Joseph) Shidle; his grandchildren, Cecilia and Julia Wilson, Margo Cicero, and Laura Shidle; he was preceded in death by his parents, Sam and Theresa Cicero; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with his family and friends, the passing of Joseph B. Cicero; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Joseph B. Cicero as a symbol of our respect.