Full Text of SR0071 94th General Assembly
SR0071 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| SENATE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Senate of the State of Illinois | 3 |
| learned with great sadness of the death of Chicago community | 4 |
| banking pioneer Milton Davis on Friday, February 11, 2005; and | 5 |
| WHEREAS, He was born in Jasper, Alabama, and graduated from | 6 |
| Morehouse College, a private college for African-American men; | 7 |
| he moved to Chicago in 1958 and worked with Ronald Grzywinski | 8 |
| and Mary Houghton on an experimental minority lending program | 9 |
| at Hyde Park Bank; and | 10 |
| WHEREAS, In 1973, Mr. Davis, Mr. Grzywinski, Ms. Houghton, | 11 |
| and James Fletcher bought South Shore Bank to prevent its move | 12 |
| downtown; now called ShoreBank, it began providing African | 13 |
| Americans, low-income residents, and businesses from Chicago's | 14 |
| poorest neighborhoods with access to financial resources; by | 15 |
| "pounding the pavement" on the South Side, Mr. Davis and his | 16 |
| colleagues reached out to potential shareholders, depositors, | 17 |
| and loan customers to help build the first and leading | 18 |
| community development bank in the nation; the bank has invested | 19 |
| $1.7 billion in underserved U.S. communities; and | 20 |
| WHEREAS, Mr. Davis was the co-founder and chairman emeritus | 21 |
| of ShoreBank Corp.; ShoreBank is known for making profitable | 22 |
| investments in depressed urban areas; it also aids development | 23 |
| projects outside the United States, in countries like | 24 |
| Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and South Africa; Mr. Davis was bank | 25 |
| president from 1973 to 1982 and chairman from 1983 to 1996; and | 26 |
| WHEREAS, The bank has gone from $40 million in assets at | 27 |
| its founding to more than $1.5 billion today; it has more than | 28 |
| 500 employees, and affiliate banks and non-profits in Chicago, | 29 |
| Detroit, Cleveland, and the Pacific Northwest; it has helped to | 30 |
| finance the unsubsidized renovation and purchase of more than | 31 |
| 45,000 affordable housing residences and created or retained |
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| more than 10,000 jobs for local residents; and | 2 |
| WHEREAS, Mr. Davis served in community organizations | 3 |
| across the city, including on the Board of Directors of the | 4 |
| Chicago Housing Authority, Columbia College, the Chicago | 5 |
| Community Trust, the ETA Creative Arts Foundation, and the | 6 |
| Field Foundation of Illinois; last fall, he was honored by | 7 |
| Shared Interest, a non-profit social investment fund, for | 8 |
| helping to create an international model for financing minority | 9 |
| businesses that helped establish The Community Banking Project | 10 |
| in South Africa and for creating an internship program at | 11 |
| ShoreBank that trains Black South Africans for positions with | 12 |
| financial institutions in South Africa; and | 13 |
| WHEREAS, The passing of Milton Davis has been deeply felt | 14 |
| by many, especially his wife, Gertrude (Trudy); his daughter, | 15 |
| Shelley; his son-in-law, Omar McRoberts; his granddaughter, | 16 |
| Naima Davis-McRoberts; and his innumerable relatives and | 17 |
| friends; therefore, be it | 18 |
| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL | 19 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the death of | 20 |
| Milton Davis, and we extend our sincere condolences to his | 21 |
| family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it | 22 |
| further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 24 |
| presented to his family as an expression of our deepest | 25 |
| sympathy.
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