Full Text of SJR0078 093rd General Assembly
SJ0078 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the 93rd General Assembly of the | 3 |
| State of Illinois learned with great sadness of the death of | 4 |
| their colleague, Senator Vince Demuzio, on Tuesday, April 27, | 5 |
| 2004; and
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| WHEREAS, Senator Demuzio was born on May 7, 1941, in | 7 |
| Gillespie; he attended Ss. Simon and Jude Catholic School and | 8 |
| Gillespie High School; he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in | 9 |
| education and human services from the University of Illinois at | 10 |
| Springfield in 1981; he earned a Master of Arts degree in | 11 |
| education and public policy from the same school in 1996; he | 12 |
| received an Honorary Doctorate from Lewis & Clark Community | 13 |
| College, and a Doctor of Laws, Honorist Causa, from Blackburn | 14 |
| College; and
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| WHEREAS, Senator Demuzio was currently the Senate Majority | 16 |
| Leader, Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, and Dean of the | 17 |
| Illinois Senate, having served in the upper chamber since 1975; | 18 |
| he was also a sitting member of the Education, Executive, and | 19 |
| Executive Appointments Committees; and
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| WHEREAS, Prior to his election to the Illinois Senate from | 21 |
| the 49th legislative district, he served as Executive Director | 22 |
| of the Illinois Valley Economic Development Corporation, a | 23 |
| community action agency providing programs in job training, | 24 |
| senior citizen nutrition, day care, sheltered workshops for the | 25 |
| physically and mentally handicapped, and other social | 26 |
| services; and
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| WHEREAS, Senator Demuzio was appointed Assistant Senate | 28 |
| Majority Leader in the 83rd General Assembly (1983-1984) and | 29 |
| was reappointed in the 84th, 85th, 86th, and 87th General | 30 |
| Assemblies; in January of 1993, he was appointed Assistant | 31 |
| Democratic Leader of the 88th General Assembly and again |
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| reappointed in the 89th, 90th, 91st, and 92nd; In January of | 2 |
| 2003, he was appointed Senate Majority Leader, only the second | 3 |
| person in the last thirty years to hold that position; Senator | 4 |
| Demuzio was one of the General Assembly's leading spokesmen for | 5 |
| the interests of downstate Illinois; he was also a member of | 6 |
| the Legislative Audit Commission and served on the Steering | 7 |
| Committee to re-examine the Illinois Constitution; he served on | 8 |
| both the 1991 and 2001 Legislative Redistricting Commissions; | 9 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, Senator Demuzio was elected to the Illinois | 11 |
| Democratic State Central Committee from the 20th Congressional | 12 |
| District in 1982, and re-elected in 1986, 1990, 1994, and 1998; | 13 |
| he was elected Chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party in | 14 |
| April of 1986 and served through April of 1990; he was the | 15 |
| first Chairman elected from downstate Illinois in more than 40 | 16 |
| years and is credited with rebuilding the infrastructure of the | 17 |
| Illinois Democratic Party; he also served as Chairman of the | 18 |
| Illinois delegation to the Democratic National Convention in | 19 |
| Atlanta in 1988 and as a member of the Democratic National | 20 |
| Committee's Executive Committee;
he often served as the emcee | 21 |
| at the Illinois State Fair's annual Democrat Day; and | 22 |
| WHEREAS, As a freshman senator in the post-Watergate era, | 23 |
| Vince Demuzio is credited with bringing legislative and | 24 |
| Democratic Party reforms with a like-minded group of lawmakers | 25 |
| affectionately known as the "Crazy Eight"; he was an advocate | 26 |
| for consumers; and
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| WHEREAS, The hallmark of Senator Demuzio's legislative | 28 |
| career was education. Senator Demuzio believed that educating | 29 |
| children well was an investment in the future. His outspoken | 30 |
| advocacy for Illinois schools throughout the years made him one | 31 |
| of the foremost leaders on education issues in the Senate, | 32 |
| earning him a spot on the education committee in each of his | 33 |
| thirty years serving in the Senate; and |
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| WHEREAS, He fought valiantly to secure funds for the | 2 |
| Illinois School for the Visually Impaired and the School for | 3 |
| the Deaf, which were both in his district and held a special | 4 |
| place in his heart; and | 5 |
| WHEREAS, Senator Demuzio received numerous distinguished | 6 |
| legislative service awards during his tenure; he served as | 7 |
| Secretary of the Blackburn College Board of Trustees in | 8 |
| Carlinville, Vice Chair of the Carlinville Hospital Board, and | 9 |
| he was on the Board of Directors for Kemmerer Village, a child | 10 |
| care agency, in Assumption; he was a member of numerous | 11 |
| fraternal and social organizations; and
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| WHEREAS, Among the highlights of his legislative career, | 13 |
| Senator Demuzio played a major role in securing funding for the | 14 |
| creation of the Orr Research Center in Pike County and the | 15 |
| completion of the Central Illinois Expressway, Route 36 | 16 |
| (currently, I-72), from Jacksonville to Quincy; he received | 17 |
| national attention as part of a fight to clean up hazardous | 18 |
| waste in Wilsonville and has helped obtain funding for major | 19 |
| road improvements along the Route 67 corridor from Alton to | 20 |
| Jacksonville;
in 1999, he led a coalition from Christian County | 21 |
| that convinced the Governor to appropriate funds in the | 22 |
| Illinois FIRST program to turn Route 29 from Rochester to | 23 |
| Taylorville into a four-lane road; he helped numerous rural | 24 |
| communities obtain funding for sewer and water improvements and | 25 |
| was especially proud to sponsor legislation renaming the | 26 |
| State's income tax check-off for breast and cervical cancer on | 27 |
| the State income tax return in honor of the late State Senator | 28 |
| Penny Severns; and
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| WHEREAS, The passing of Senator Vince Demuzio has been | 30 |
| deeply felt by many across Illinois, especially his wife, | 31 |
| Deanna (Clemonds); his son, Brad and his wife Lori (Hackman); | 32 |
| his daughter, Stephanie Blair and her husband, Patrick; his |
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| mother, Catherine (Murphy) Demuzio; his mother-in-law, | 2 |
| Virginia Clemonds; his sisters, Marlene Demuzio, Donna Burke, | 3 |
| Catherine Visintin, and Bernadette Hasquin; and his 4 | 4 |
| grandchildren, Blake, Brooke, Tristan, and Gillian; therefore, | 5 |
| be it | 6 |
| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL | 7 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES | 8 |
| CONCURRING HEREIN, that we mourn the passing of Senator Vince | 9 |
| Demuzio, our friend and colleague, who served the people with | 10 |
| honor and distinction and exemplified the highest standards, | 11 |
| which won him unequivocal admiration; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 13 |
| presented to the family of Senator Vince Demuzio as an | 14 |
| expression of our sincerest condolences for the loss of their | 15 |
| loved one and our friend.
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