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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3 learn of the death of Mercedes Laing; and
 
4     WHEREAS, Mercedes Laing was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1956
5 and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona; and
 
6     WHEREAS, Mercedes Laing graduated from Harvard-Radcliffe
7 College in 1977 and took a job thereafter with Proctor and
8 Gamble; and
 
9     WHEREAS, Mercedes Laing received her degree from Yale Law
10 School and was the articles editor of the Yale Law Review; and
 
11     WHEREAS, Mercedes Laing worked as a clerk for Judge Amalya
12 Kearse on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; Ms.
13 Laing later went on to work at the Holland & Knight law firm,
14 where she was a partner; and
 
15     WHEREAS, Mercedes Laing formally headed the African Trade
16 Institute and worked on several Democratic political campaigns
17 as a fundraiser and community organizer; and
 
18     WHEREAS, Mercedes Laing worked as an urban issues director
19 for the late Paul Simon; Ms. Laing was responsible for

 

 

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1 monitoring urban education and school reform and identifying
2 ways that the federal government could help local schools; and
 
3     WHEREAS, Mercedes Laing served as a Chicago Community Trust
4 board member from 1996 until 2006; Ms. Laing acted as the
5 board's vice chairman and headed the education committee and
6 management and compensation committee during her 10-year
7 tenure; and
 
8     WHEREAS, Mercedes Laing took special pride in the creation
9 of the Chicago Community Trust's African-American Legacy
10 Initiative, which supported emerging organizations in the
11 black community; and
 
12     WHEREAS, Mercedes Laing became the director of external
13 affairs for Chicago Public Schools in 2006; Ms. Laing took this
14 job a few months before her cancer diagnosis, yet continued to
15 work until recently; and
 
16     WHEREAS, Mercedes Laing, at the young age of 52, lost her
17 battle with cancer on Tuesday, June 17, 2008; Ms. Laing is
18 survived by her sister; 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 her family and friends, the passing of Mercedes Laing; and be

 

 

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