HR1084 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1084 LRB099 21046 GRL 46163 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Dr. Quentin Young, who passed away on March 7, 2016 at the age of 92; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Quentin Young lived in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood for most of his life and graduated from Hyde Park High School, where he was active in drama; he later attended the University of Chicago before serving in the United States Army during World War II; after getting his bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1944, he received his medical degree from Northwestern University in 1947; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Quentin Young began his medical training at Cook County Hospital and remained there until 1952; he then spent many years as a physician at Michael Reese Hospital on Chicago's South Side before returning to Cook County Hospital, where he became Chairman of Medicine in 1972; he remained there until 1981, working to improve the county public health system's economic vitality and its ability to help the poor and downtrodden; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Quentin Young maintained a medical practice in Hyde Park into his mid-80s while keeping busy with many causes; he served as the physician for Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights leader's many stops in Chicago; he also had many other notable patients, including Mayor Harold Washington, columnist Mike Royko, and a young Barack Obama, a patient in the 1990s with whom he later consulted on health care policies; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Quentin Young pushed to end discriminatory practices at Chicago-area hospitals in the 1950s, co-founded the Medical Committee for Human Rights in the 1960s, marched for civil rights and against war, and spent decades advocating for national health care; he was among the volunteers in the campaign to register black voters during Mississippi's Freedom Summer in 1964 and participated in one of the historic 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama; as the founder and national chairman for the Medical Committee for Human Rights, he led efforts to provide medical care to campaign volunteers, civil rights workers, and anti-war protesters; he also took part in a 167-mile, 15-day walk across Illinois to promote universal health care in August of 2001, at the age of 77; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Quentin Young was president of the Chicago Board of Health and the American Public Health Association and a co-founder of the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Quentin Young was preceded in death by his second wife, Ruth; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Quentin Young is survived by his children, Polly, Michael, Ethan, Nancy, and Barbara; his stepchildren, William Weaver and Karen Weaver; and his nine grandchildren; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we, along with his family and friends, mourn the passing of Dr. Quentin Young; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Dr. Quentin Young as an expression of our sympathy.