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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3 learn of the death of Ellis E. Reid III of Chicago, who passed
4 away on August 7, 2007; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Ellis E. Reid III was born in Bronzeville and grew
6 up in Woodlawn and Park Manor; he graduated from Englewood High
7 School, then attended the University of Illinois at
8 Urbana-Champaign, where he received his bachelor's degree in
9 1956; he received his law degree from the University of Chicago
10 Law School in 1959; and
 
11     WHEREAS, Ellis E. Reid III was a well-known and respected
12 attorney and judge throughout the Chicago area; he was a
13 prosecutor in the case against former State's Attorney Edward
14 Hanrahan and police officers accused of wrongdoing in a raid
15 that left two Black Panthers dead; he successfully argued in
16 federal court to overturn a Chicago ordinance in 1970, which
17 prevented women from making drinks unless they had a liquor
18 license or were related to someone who did; he served for many
19 years as a judge in the Cook County Circuit Court's 1st
20 Municipal District in Chicago and he was the first black judge
21 to head that district; he also served as a Justice in the
22 Illinois Appellate Court, 1st District, 5th Division from 2000
23 to 2004; he became the court's presiding justice in 2004; and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, Ellis E. Reid III also represented various
2 organizations; among them, he served as General Counsel to
3 Local 453 of the United Auto Workers, AFL-CIO from 1960 to
4 1972; he served as General Counsel to Local 1006 of the
5 American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
6 AFL-CIO from 1976 to 1983; and he was a proud, dedicated member
7 of and long-time General Counsel to the Kappa Alpha Psi
8 Fraternity, Inc.; and
 
9     WHEREAS, Ellis E. Reid III was a former President of the
10 Illinois Judicial Council; and he was a former President of the
11 Cook County Bar Association, the first African-American bar
12 association in the country; and
 
13     WHEREAS, Ellis E. Reid III had an intense love of the law
14 and had an interest in mentoring young law students; and
 
15     WHEREAS, Ellis E. Reid III is by survived his wife, Sheila;
16 his sons, Ellis E. Reid IV and David Reid; his daughter,
17 Noelle; his siblings, Betty Baugh, Virginia Nichols, and Harry
18 Reid; and his four grandchildren; therefore, be it
 
19     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL
20 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with
21 his family and friends, the passing of Ellis E. Reid III; and

 

 

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1 be it further
 
2     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
3 presented to the family of Ellis E. Reid III as an expression
4 of our sympathy.