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92_SR0451
LRB9217081BHbh
1 SENATE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened
3 to learn of the death of Robert Morgan of Peoria, who passed
4 away May 29, 2002; and
5 WHEREAS, Robert Morgan was born in Peoria on May 27,
6 1912, to Harry Dale and Eleanor Ellis Morgan; he married
7 Betty Louise Harbers on October 14, 1939, in Peoria; and
8 WHEREAS, Robert Morgan was a graduate of Bradley
9 University and received his doctor of law degree from the
10 University of Chicago Law School; and
11 WHEREAS, A member of the American Legion, Robert Morgan
12 was a World War II Army Signal Corps veteran with the rank of
13 major; and
14 WHEREAS, Robert Morgan became Peoria's 36th mayor in 1953
15 and was the first to govern under the city's newly adopted
16 council-city manager form of government; Peoria, at the time,
17 was known as a city of ill-repute, full of gambling and
18 prostitution; Mr. Morgan campaigned on a pledge to oust those
19 elements, and under his administration, police began rigidly
20 enforcing laws against prostitution and gambling; his
21 anti-crime efforts nearly cost him his life, as two attempts
22 were made to dynamite his home and he received several death
23 threats over the phone; and
24 WHEREAS, Under Robert Morgan's administration, Peoria was
25 named by Look magazine as one of the nation's 11 All-America
26 cities; for this and getting the city out of debt, Mr. Morgan
27 received the Good Government Award in 1954 for the remarkable
28 job he was doing; and
29 WHEREAS, Robert Morgan did not run for a second term in
30 1957, and opted to pursue his career in law; described as
31 fearless and a stickler for the law, his reputation was so
-2- LRB9217081BHbh
1 impeccable that he was nominated by President Johnson to the
2 federal bench; Robert Morgan was a federal judge for 35 years
3 and held senior judge status since May 28, 1982; and
4 WHEREAS, Robert Morgan served on Bradley's board of
5 trustees from 1957 to 2002 and had served on the Wildlife
6 Prairie Park Board of Trustees; he was past president of the
7 Rotary Club and the YMCA, where he had served on the board;
8 Robert Morgan had also served on the United Fund Board and
9 the Salvation Army Peoria Advisory Board; and
10 WHEREAS, Robert Morgan was a member of the American,
11 Illinois State, and Peoria County bar associations, the
12 American Judicature Society, the Illinois State Chamber of
13 Commerce, and the Peoria Association of Commerce; he was a
14 member of Westminster Presbyterian Church from 1947 to 1952;
15 and
16 WHEREAS, Robert Morgan was named Citizen of the Year in
17 1957 by B'nai B'rith; and
18 WHEREAS, Robert Morgan will be deeply missed by all those
19 who knew him and loved him, especially his wife, Betty; his
20 two sons, Thomas and James; his five grandchildren; and his
21 five great-grandchildren; therefore, be it
22 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SECOND GENERAL
23 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with
24 all those who knew him and loved him, the death of Robert
25 Morgan; and be it further
26 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
27 presented to Robert Morgan with our most sincere condolences.