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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Jacoby
4Dickens of Fisher Island, Florida, formerly of Chicago and
5Olympia Fields; and
 
6    WHEREAS, After moving to Chicago in 1946, Jacoby Dickens
7attended Wendell Phillips High School on the South Side; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Jacoby Dickens was a longtime resident of Chicago;
9he began his career at the Chicago Board of Education and
10demonstrated an entrepreneurial flair that earned him the
11distinction as one of the nation's most admired business
12leaders; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Jacoby Dickens was elected to the Board of the
14Seaway Bank and Trust Company in 1979; he served as Vice
15Chairman of the board before becoming Chairman in 1983; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Jacoby Dickens was well known as a champion for
17the African-American and civic communities; his deep
18involvement with the community shaped his work at Seaway, where
19he helped implement the opening of bank branches in otherwise
20underserved areas of the city, including his own South Side of
21Chicago; he focused on growing new businesses through loans,

 

 

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1outreach, and community development programs; he also
2supported local churches and mentoring programs, sponsoring
3African-American teenagers through high school and college;
4and
 
5    WHEREAS, Jacoby Dickens served as chairman of the Committee
6to Elect Harold Washington and as a Commissioner of Economic
7Development for the City of Chicago; he was a member of the
8boards of the Chicago Urban League, Chicago State University
9Foundation, and the School of Business at Florida A & M
10University; he also served as a trustee at the Museum of
11Science and Industry at DePaul University, where a
12scholarship-and-loan program was named in his honor, and at
13Chicago State University, to which he donated more than $1
14million; in 1995, the Physical Education and Athletics Building
15at CSU was named for him; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Jacoby Dickens was listed among Chicago
17Magazine's "20 Most Influential People in Chicago" and had been
18inducted into the Chicago Business Hall of Fame; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Jacoby Dickens is survived by his loving wife of
2015 years, Veranda Dickens; therefore, be it
 
21    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
22NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that

 

 

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1we mourn, along with his family and friends, the passing of
2Jacoby Dickens; and be it further
 
3    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
4presented to the family of Jacoby Dickens as an expression of
5our sympathy.