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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of Jarvis Burdette "Jerry" Cecil, who passed
4away on November 4, 2016; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Jarvis Cecil was born in Wichita, Kansas to
6Kenneth and Mildred Lewis Cecil on September 22, 1925; he grew
7up in Knoxville and entered Knox College in Galesburg in 1943;
8in the winter of 1944, he joined the United States Army Air
9Forces, serving as a navigator; he returned to Knox College
10after World War II, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum
11laude in the winter of 1948; he received his Master of Business
12Administration in 1949 from Harvard Business School, where he
13was named a George F. Baker Scholar, the top scholastic honor,
14and worked for two years as a research associate; in 1949, he
15married June Pendarvis, who passed away in 1974; he married
16Kathleen Nicolette in 1986; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Jarvis Cecil joined Continental Oil Co. (Conoco)
18as a staff accountant in Ponca City, Oklahoma in 1951; after
19transfers to Houston, Texas and New Canaan, Connecticut with
20Conoco, he moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to become
21Executive Vice-President of Consolidation Coal, a subsidiary
22of Conoco and later of Du Pont; he retired in 1988; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Jarvis Cecil was committed to Knox College;
2college files contain the letter that accompanied his first
3gift to the Alumni Fund in 1944, mailed from U.S. Army Air
4Forces training camp in Florida; he was a member of the Board
5of Trustees from 1973 to 1999, when he was elected Life
6Trustee, serving as Chair of the board from 1978 to 1995; he
7was the longest serving Trustee of the current Board of
8Trustees, having served for 43 years; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Jarvis Cecil was awarded an honorary Doctor of
10Laws in 1995; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Jarvis Cecil was a member of the Sesquicentennial
12Capital Development Program and the Fieldhouse Campaign Team;
13he chaired the campaign to renovate Seymour Library, where the
14Cecil Reading Room is named in his honor; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Jarvis Cecil was a star donor to Knox College and
16made a gift every year since he graduated; he and his wife will
17remain in perpetuity members of the Scripps Society, Knox's
18highest giving society, recognizing their generosity; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Jarvis Cecil was a lifetime member of The Nature
20Conservancy; he was interested in the environment, including
21leadership positions with the Western Pennsylvania
22Conservancy, the Fox Chapel Land Conservation Trust, the Phipps

 

 

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1Conservatory, the Botanical Gardens, and the Fox Chapel
2Environmental Advisory Council; he was active with the
3Pittsburgh Public Theatre and the Pennsylvania State Chamber of
4Commerce; he was a member of the Fox Chapel Borough Council and
5Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Jarvis Cecil is survived by his wife of 30 years,
7Kathleen; his children, Ann Brouillette, and John and Scott
8Cecil; his grandchildren, Sarah, Erin, and Suzanne Brouillette
9and Rachel and Teddy Cecil; and his sister, Marjorie Burgess;
10therefore, be it
 
11    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
12ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
13Jarvis Burdette "Jerry" Cecil, and extend our sincere
14condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved
15him; and be it further
 
16    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
17presented to the family of Jarvis Cecil as an expression of our
18deepest sympathy.