State of Illinois
92nd General Assembly
Legislation

   [ Search ]   [ PDF text ]   [ Legislation ]   
[ Home ]   [ Back ]   [ Bottom ]



92_HR0671

 
                                              LRB9215958RHrhB

 1                          HOUSE RESOLUTION

 2        WHEREAS,  The  members   of   the   Illinois   House   of
 3    Representatives  wish to express their sincere condolences to
 4    the family and friends of James W. Clement, who  passed  away
 5    on January 30, 2002; and

 6        WHEREAS,  Jim  Clement  was  a  Chicago patent lawyer who
 7    pushed for  racial  integration  and  equality  in  Chicago's
 8    public  schools;   he was among the most memorable members of
 9    the Chicago Board of Education, although he served  only  two
10    years, from 1964 to 1966; and

11        WHEREAS,  A  vocal  opponent  of  Chicago  Public  School
12    Superintendent  Benjamin  Willis,  Mr. Clement was especially
13    critical on integration matters, including the use of  mobile
14    classrooms--critics at the time called them Willis Wagons--to
15    relieve  overcrowding  in  schools  that  were  mostly or all
16    black, without ending racial segregation in the system; and

17        WHEREAS, A lifelong Illinois resident and a  resident  of
18    Hyde Park for 50 years, Mr. Clement earned bachelor's degrees
19    in chemistry in 1935, making Phi Beta Kappa and Bronze Table,
20    and  in  physics  in  1943, and obtained a master's degree in
21    chemistry in 1936, all from the University  of  Illinois;  he
22    received  a  law degree in 1941 from Northwestern University;
23    and

24        WHEREAS, Mr. Clement spent the summers of 1935  and  1936
25    building homes in Quaker work camps, first for coal miners in
26    Pennsylvania  then  in Switzerland following a landslide;  at
27    the 1936 Olympics in Berlin he watched the heroics  of  Jesse
28    Owens  and  Ralph  Metcalfe,  the  latter  of  whom  became a
29    congressman and a longtime friend of Mr. Clement's;  he  also
30    spent  a  year teaching chemistry, physics, English and choir
31    at the American School for Boys in Baghdad, Iraq; and
 
                            -2-               LRB9215958RHrhB
 1        WHEREAS, Mr. Clement served in the military from 1943  to
 2    1946, serving stateside in both the Army and the Navy; and

 3        WHEREAS, Mr. Clement clerked for Otto Kerner Sr., a judge
 4    on  the U.S. Court of Appeals and father of Illinois Governor
 5    Otto Kerner, and served  in  Governor  Adlai  E.  Stevenson's
 6    administration  as  counselor  to  the  finance  director; in
 7    addition he mentored a number of state lawmakers, one of whom
 8    was former Illinois congressman  and  former  U.S.  Court  of
 9    Appeals Chief Judge Abner Mikva; and

10        WHEREAS,  Mr.  Clement  was a partner in the intellectual
11    property law firms of Dressler, Goldsmith, Clement  &  Gordon
12    and Clement & Ryan, where he continued to practice patent and
13    trademark law until shortly before his death; and

14        WHEREAS, Mr. Clement served on the boards of the Illinois
15    division  of  the American Civil Liberties Union, Thresholds,
16    and the Committee on Illinois Government; in addition, he was
17    a member of the Illinois Bar Association for 60 years; and

18        WHEREAS, Mr. Clement played tennis until  a  knee  injury
19    forced him to stop at 83; and

20        WHEREAS,  Jim  Clement  was a devoted husband, father and
21    family man who reveled in the activities and  accomplishments
22    of  his  wife  of  49  years, and his children, including his
23    daughter Jill, who preceded him in death; and

24        WHEREAS, The death of Jim Clement will be deeply felt  by
25    all  who  knew  and  loved him, especially his wife, Kay; his
26    daughter, Kim; his sons, John, Adam and Peter, and his  seven
27    grandchildren; therefore, be it

28        RESOLVED,   BY   THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE
29    NINETY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
30    we mourn, along with all who  knew  him,  the  death  of  Jim
31    Clement of Chicago; and be it further
 
                            -3-               LRB9215958RHrhB
 1        RESOLVED,  That  a  suitable  copy  of this resolution be
 2    presented to the family of James W. Clement with our  sincere
 3    condolences.

[ Top ]