Full Text of HR0898 94th General Assembly
HR0898 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of this Body are honored to recognize | 3 |
| significant milestones in the lives of the people of this | 4 |
| State; and
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| WHEREAS, It has come to our attention that Mr. Harry Berger | 6 |
| of Lincolnwood is celebrating the 90th anniversary of his | 7 |
| birth; and
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| WHEREAS, Harry Berger was born on March 26, 1916, in | 9 |
| Hungary; during World War II, he and his family were forcibly | 10 |
| removed from their homes and taken by the Nazis to live in a | 11 |
| crowded Jewish ghetto; not long after, he and other men his age | 12 |
| were taken by German and Hungarian soldiers to work as slave | 13 |
| laborers for the balance of the war; and
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| WHEREAS, After he was liberated by American soldiers, he | 15 |
| was unable to return to his home because it was then under | 16 |
| Russian control; he obtained a temporary visa to live and work | 17 |
| in Brussels, Belgium; it was there that he met Helen Berger, a | 18 |
| survivor of Auschwitz, with whom he will celebrate 58 years of | 19 |
| marriage on February 28, 2006; and | 20 |
| WHEREAS, Mr. and Mrs. Berger, along with their two and a | 21 |
| half year old son, Robert, migrated to the United States in | 22 |
| 1952, settling in the Albany Park neighborhood in Chicago; they | 23 |
| became naturalized citizens in 1957; they had a daughter, | 24 |
| Margaret, in 1954, and realized the American dream, purchasing | 25 |
| their own home in the Rogers Park neighborhood, where they | 26 |
| lived until 1992; and
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| WHEREAS, Mr. Berger worked as a tailor at Broadlane | 28 |
| Clothiers in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago from the time | 29 |
| he arrived in the United States until the store closed in | 30 |
| approximately 1980; he then worked for Lytton's and then Mark |
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| Shale on Michigan Avenue, where he was awarded Employee of the | 2 |
| Year honors before retiring in 1995; and
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| WHEREAS, In addition to having worked hard to provide for | 4 |
| his family, Mr. Berger made time and worked tirelessly for many | 5 |
| good causes in the service of others; he served on the | 6 |
| Synagogue Board and Men's Club Board of Congregation Eras | 7 |
| Israel in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago and served | 8 |
| two terms as President of the Men's Club and two terms as | 9 |
| President of the Congregation; more amazing is that he served | 10 |
| as President of the Congregation when he was in his | 11 |
| mid-eighties; and
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| WHEREAS, He was also a Board Member and two term President | 13 |
| of the Zionist Organization of Chicago (ZOC), the Chicago | 14 |
| chapter of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA); in 1996, | 15 |
| the ZOC honored Mr. and Mrs. Berger with the State of Israel | 16 |
| Award for their long-time commitment and service to the | 17 |
| organization and to the State of Israel; and
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| WHEREAS, Mr. Berger has also helped raise hundreds of | 19 |
| thousands of dollars for the State of Israel; in 2001, he and | 20 |
| his wife were honored at an Israel Bond Luncheon that raised | 21 |
| over one half million dollars in Israel bonds; he has supported | 22 |
| many other Jewish charities including the JUF; and
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| WHEREAS, One of his great pleasures in life has been | 24 |
| sports; as a young boy in Hungary, he loved to play soccer; in | 25 |
| his new home, he came to understand and love baseball, | 26 |
| football, and basketball; he loves the White Sox, Cubs, Bears, | 27 |
| and Bulls and would often attend games on Sundays, his one day | 28 |
| off of work; his joy was immeasurable when his beloved White | 29 |
| Sox finally won the World Series last fall; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 31 |
| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that |
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| we congratulate Mr. Harry Berger on the occasion of his 90th | 2 |
| birthday, and we extend to him our sincere best wishes for the | 3 |
| future; and be it further | 4 |
| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 5 |
| presented to Mr. Berger as an expression of our respect and | 6 |
| esteem.
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