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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of James Liautaud of Cary, who passed away
4on October 23, 2015; and
 
5    WHEREAS, James Liautaud served in the United States Army in
6Korea; he earned his mechanical engineering degree from the
7University of Illinois; and
 
8    WHEREAS, James Liautaud's interest in business began when
9he went to work selling books door to door for the Grolier's
10Encyclopedia company; in the late 1960s, he become a pioneer in
11a new technology called composite molding and accepted an offer
12to become President and co-owner of the Capsonic Group, a
13plastics and electronics manufacturing firm in Elgin that used
14this technology; over the next few years, he started the
15American Antenna Company, which made equipment for the
16then-trendy citizens band radio industry, and K40 Electronics,
17which manufactured a radar detector designed to give drivers a
18chance to break the speed limit without running afoul of the
19police; he received 80 United States patents and numerous
20design awards; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Five summers in a row, James Liautaud and a club
22of fellow self-made millionaires would gather in Elgin with

 

 

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1their high-performance Porsches, Ferraris, and Corvettes; they
2would take off along I-90 at 100 mph or faster in a 400-mile
3Cannonball Run-style car race all the way up to the Duluth,
4Minnesota or Hayward, Wisconsin areas; to minimize traffic
5tickets, the racers would even arrange for a helicopter to fly
6overhead and warn where troopers were lying in wait; in 1986,
7they finally arranged with authorities to run that year's
8Cannonball Run on a legal basis - basing the competition not on
9which CEO could drive the fastest but on which one could
10achieve an average speed closest to 52 mph; and
 
11    WHEREAS, James Liautaud later sold his business interests
12(which by then also included the Blue Rhino bottled-gas company
13and 2 insurance firms) and joined the faculty of the University
14of Illinois at Chicago; besides teaching there as a clinical
15professor, he endowed and created what became the Liautaud
16Business School; and
 
17    WHEREAS, James Liautaud loaned his son, Jimmy John, $25,000
18after graduating to start what would become Jimmy John's
19Gourmet Sandwiches; in 2008, Jimmy John donated $1 million to
20Elgin Academy on the condition that it rename the academy's
21high school as the "Liautaud-Lyons Upper School"; and
 
22    WHEREAS, James Liautaud is survived by his wife of 54
23years, Gudaityte "Gina" Liautaud, and 4 children; therefore, be

 

 

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1it
 
2    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
3ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
4James Liautaud, and extend our sincere condolences to his
5family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it
6further
 
7    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
8presented to the family of James Liautaud as an expression of
9our deepest sympathy.