HR0319 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0319 LRB098 11886 MST 45163 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of George Miller Burditt Jr. of LaGrange Park, former Illinois State Representative, who passed away on March 12, 2013; and

WHEREAS, George Burditt Jr. was born on Chicago's west side; he grew up in LaGrange and was valedictorian of the class of 1940 at Lyons Township High School; he played basketball and was later elected to the school's hall of fame and the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame; he received a bachelor's degree from Harvard, where he was also on the basketball team, while serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1944; after the war, he obtained his law degree from Harvard; he married Barbara Stenger in 1945; and

WHEREAS, George Burditt Jr. worked for Swift & Co. and in 1969 started the law firm of Burditt & Calkins, which focused on food and drug law; and

WHEREAS, George Burditt Jr. was an attorney, former president of the Chicago Bar Association, general counsel for the Food and Drug Law Institute, and a longtime adjunct professor in food and drug law at Northwestern University's law school from 1967-1997; and

WHEREAS, George Burditt Jr. got involved in politics in the 1950s after moving to Western Springs; he was on the village plan commission, became a campaign manager for the Lyons Township Republican organization, and was vice-chairman of a group of Dwight Eisenhower supporters; he served as an Illinois State Representative in the 1960s and 1970s, serving 4 terms and achieving the level of assistant majority leader; after leaving the Illinois House of Representatives, he was appointed to the State ethics board and to the Illinois Liquor Control Commission; in March 1974, he was elected as Lyons Township GOP committeeman; and

WHEREAS, George Burditt Jr. was preceded in death by his first wife, Barbara, who died in 2001; and

WHEREAS, George Burditt Jr. is survived by his second wife, Mary Jane Mallery, whom he married in 2008; his daughters Barbara Perry, Betsey Blessing, and Deborah; his son, George M. III; his 11 grandchildren; and his 6 great-grandchildren; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of George Burditt Jr., and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family George Burditt Jr. as an expression of our deepest sympathy.