SR1330 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR1330 LRB099 15711 MST 40010 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of James Liautaud of Cary, who passed away on October 23, 2015; and

WHEREAS, James Liautaud served in the United States Army in Korea; he earned his mechanical engineering degree from the University of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, James Liautaud's interest in business began when he went to work selling books door to door for the Grolier's Encyclopedia company; in the late 1960s, he become a pioneer in a new technology called composite molding and accepted an offer to become President and co-owner of the Capsonic Group, a plastics and electronics manufacturing firm in Elgin that used this technology; over the next few years, he started the American Antenna Company, which made equipment for the then-trendy citizens band radio industry, and K40 Electronics, which manufactured a radar detector designed to give drivers a chance to break the speed limit without running afoul of the police; he received 80 United States patents and numerous design awards; and

WHEREAS, Five summers in a row, James Liautaud and a club of fellow self-made millionaires would gather in Elgin with their high-performance Porsches, Ferraris, and Corvettes; they would take off along I-90 at 100 mph or faster in a 400-mile Cannonball Run-style car race all the way up to the Duluth, Minnesota or Hayward, Wisconsin areas; to minimize traffic tickets, the racers would even arrange for a helicopter to fly overhead and warn where troopers were lying in wait; in 1986, they finally arranged with authorities to run that year's Cannonball Run on a legal basis - basing the competition not on which CEO could drive the fastest but on which one could achieve an average speed closest to 52 mph; and

WHEREAS, James Liautaud later sold his business interests (which by then also included the Blue Rhino bottled-gas company and 2 insurance firms) and joined the faculty of the University of Illinois at Chicago; besides teaching there as a clinical professor, he endowed and created what became the Liautaud Business School; and

WHEREAS, James Liautaud loaned his son, Jimmy John, $25,000 after graduating to start what would become Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches; in 2008, Jimmy John donated $1 million to Elgin Academy on the condition that it rename the academy's high school as the "Liautaud-Lyons Upper School"; and

WHEREAS, James Liautaud is survived by his wife of 54 years, Gudaityte "Gina" Liautaud, and 4 children; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of James Liautaud, 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 of James Liautaud as an expression of our deepest sympathy.