SR0590 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0590 LRB096 17411 GRL 32764 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Mircea Sabau, who passed away on June 15, 2009; and

WHEREAS, Mircea Sabau was born on August 24, 1934, in Turda, Romania; as a child, he studied in Turda before moving to Bucharest to continue his studies at the University C.I. Parhon's Faculty of Physics from 1952 to 1957; and

WHEREAS, After finishing his studies in 1957, Mircea Sabau worked at the Nuclear Reactor Division of the Institute of Atomic Physics in Bucharest for 18 years; in 1970, he earned his doctorate in high energy physics; he then worked at the Joint Institute of Nuclear Physics at Dubna in the former Soviet Union; and

WHEREAS, No longer able to stand the harsh controls of the Communist government in Romania, Mircea Sabau and his family defected to the West in 1975; after working for a year at the Institute of Nuclear Research in Karlsruhe, Germany, he moved to the United States and began working for the Argonne National Laboratory; after his funding at Argonne began to diminish, he decided to study a new field; after taking the Board Examinations in Medical Physics, he became a Professor of Medical Physics at the University of Chicago, where he worked for 18 years; during that time, he was also placed in charge of calibrating the University Hospital's complex new equipment; he then worked at the Baylor Medical Center at the University of Dallas as a Professor of Medical Physics for 4 years, concurrently serving as the head of the Laboratory of Diagnostic and Treatment Equipment; in 1998, he and his wife retired in order to devote himself fully to increasing Romanian cultural awareness in the Western world; and

WHEREAS, Mircea Sabau published over 150 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals; he also presented over 50 papers at various international conferences and congresses; and

WHEREAS, Mircea Sabau was a member of numerous civic and cultural organizations; he was a member of the American-Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, and the Bureau of the Director and representative of the Romanian World Council; he also served as a representative of a non-governmental organization from Romania at the United Nations; and

WHEREAS, Mircea Sabau will be remembered fondly by all and knew and loved him as an honest and caring man whose integrity and dignity were unmatched; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with his family and friends, the passing of Mircea Sabau; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Mircea Sabau as an expression of our sympathy.