|
|
|
|
HR0540 |
|
LRB094 12631 CSA 47458 r |
|
|
| 1 |
| HOUSE RESOLUTION
|
| 2 |
| WHEREAS, Arnold "Arnie" Morton of Chicago passed away on |
| 3 |
| May 28, 2005; and
|
| 4 |
| WHEREAS, Mr. Morton is best known for the Chicago |
| 5 |
| restaurant "Arnie's", the club "Zorine's", and "Morton's" |
| 6 |
| steakhouses; he also helped start the first Playboy Club and |
| 7 |
| the Taste of Chicago food festival; and
|
| 8 |
| WHEREAS, He was born in Chicago in 1922 and grew up in Hyde |
| 9 |
| Park, where his father owned two restaurants in which he bused |
| 10 |
| tables and worked in the kitchen from the age of 15; he |
| 11 |
| graduated from Hyde Park High School and enlisted in the Army |
| 12 |
| during World War II; he saw eight months of action with the |
| 13 |
| infantry, arriving in Normandy, France, just after D-Day; after |
| 14 |
| the war, he attended the University of Alabama, where he played |
| 15 |
| football for two years; and
|
| 16 |
| WHEREAS, Mr. Morton's first restaurant, the Walton Walk, |
| 17 |
| between Rush Street and Michigan Avenue, opened in the 1950s |
| 18 |
| and paved the way for a partnership with Hugh Hefner and Victor |
| 19 |
| Lownes, and for the Playboy Club they opened in 1960; Mr. |
| 20 |
| Morton left Playboy in the early 1970s and ran several |
| 21 |
| nightspots, then opened Morton's steakhouse in the Gold Coast |
| 22 |
| neighborhood of Chicago in 1978; he sold his steakhouses in |
| 23 |
| 1987; there are now 65 locations in the United States, Hong |
| 24 |
| Kong, Singapore, and Canada; and
|
| 25 |
| WHEREAS, He married his wife, Zorine, in 1961; they had |
| 26 |
| four daughters and three sons; and
|
| 27 |
| WHEREAS, Even though he had a busy life, his wife and |
| 28 |
| children came first; he was home for dinner five nights a week |
| 29 |
| and never missed a game when his kids played sports; he touched |
| 30 |
| everyone he came in contact with; he was a most humble, |