Full Text of HR0157 94th General Assembly
HR0157 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the | 3 |
| State of Illinois were grieved to learn of the death of Chicago | 4 |
| community banking pioneer Milton Davis on Friday, February 11, | 5 |
| 2005; and | 6 |
| WHEREAS, He was born in Jasper, Alabama, and graduated from | 7 |
| Morehouse College, a private college for African-American men, | 8 |
| with a bachelor's degree in sociology; he served his country | 9 |
| honorably in the U.S. Army and took master's level courses at | 10 |
| Washington University in St. Louis before he moved to Chicago | 11 |
| in 1958, where he worked with Ronald Grzywinski and Mary | 12 |
| Houghton on an experimental minority lending program at Hyde | 13 |
| Park Bank; he married his wife, Gertude, in 1960; and | 14 |
| WHEREAS, During the early years of his marriage, Mr. Davis | 15 |
| became a civil rights leader joining South Side Chicago's | 16 |
| Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), rising to become its | 17 |
| President in 1965, and was arrested many times as he led | 18 |
| sit-ins for fair housing and picketed outside Chicago school | 19 |
| board meetings to end segregation; and | 20 |
| WHEREAS, In 1973, Mr. Davis, Mr. Grzywinski, Ms. Houghton, | 21 |
| and James Fletcher bought South Shore Bank to prevent its move | 22 |
| downtown; now called ShoreBank, it began providing African | 23 |
| Americans, low-income residents, and businesses from Chicago's | 24 |
| poorest neighborhoods with access to financial resources; by | 25 |
| "pounding the pavement" on the South Side, Mr. Davis and his | 26 |
| colleagues reached out to potential shareholders, depositors, | 27 |
| and loan customers to help build the first and leading | 28 |
| community development bank in the nation; the bank has invested | 29 |
| $1.7 billion in underserved U.S. communities; and | 30 |
| WHEREAS, Mr. Davis was the co-founder and chairman emeritus | 31 |
| of ShoreBank Corp.; ShoreBank is known for making profitable |
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| investments in depressed urban areas; it also aids development | 2 |
| projects outside the United States, in countries like | 3 |
| Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and South Africa; Mr. Davis was bank | 4 |
| president from 1973 to 1982 and chairman from 1983 to 1996; and | 5 |
| WHEREAS, The bank has gone from $40 million in assets at | 6 |
| its founding to more than $1.5 billion today; it has more than | 7 |
| 500 employees, and affiliate banks and non-profits in Chicago, | 8 |
| Detroit, Cleveland, and the Pacific Northwest; it has helped to | 9 |
| finance the unsubsidized renovation and purchase of more than | 10 |
| 45,000 affordable housing residences and created or retained | 11 |
| more than 10,000 jobs for local residents; and | 12 |
| WHEREAS, Mr. Davis served in community organizations | 13 |
| across the city, including on the Board of Directors of the | 14 |
| Chicago Housing Authority, Columbia College, the Chicago | 15 |
| Community Trust, the Southside YMCA, Chicago United, the ETA | 16 |
| Creative Arts Foundation, and the Field Foundation of Illinois; | 17 |
| he also served on the Illinois Institute of Technology Board of | 18 |
| Trustees; last fall, he was honored by Shared Interest, a | 19 |
| non-profit social investment fund, for helping to create an | 20 |
| international model for financing minority businesses that | 21 |
| helped establish The Community Banking Project in South Africa | 22 |
| and for creating an internship program at ShoreBank that trains | 23 |
| Black South Africans for positions with financial institutions | 24 |
| in South Africa; and | 25 |
| WHEREAS, Mr. Davis was active in Chicago political life, | 26 |
| serving on the fundraising committees of both Harold Washington | 27 |
| mayoral campaigns, and he was an advisor to both Washington | 28 |
| administrations; and | 29 |
| WHEREAS, The passing of Milton Davis has been deeply felt | 30 |
| by many, especially his wife, Gertrude (Trudy); his daughter, | 31 |
| Shelley; his son-in-law, Omar McRoberts; his granddaughter, | 32 |
| Naima Davis-McRoberts; and his innumerable relatives and |
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| friends; therefore, be it | 2 |
| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 3 |
| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 4 |
| we mourn the death of Milton Davis, and we extend our sincere | 5 |
| condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved | 6 |
| him; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 8 |
| presented to his family as an expression of our deepest | 9 |
| sympathy.
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