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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 former
4Illinois State Representative and United States Congressman
5John Edward Porter of Alexandria, Virginia, formerly of
6Evanston, who passed away on June 3, 2022 at the age of 87; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Congressman Porter was born in Evanston on June
81, 1935; he graduated from Evanston Township High School; he
9then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; he
10received his Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts from
11Northwestern University in 1957; he served in the U.S. Army
12Reserve from 1958 to 1964; he earned his Juris Doctor from the
13University of Michigan Law School in 1961, where he made Law
14Review and graduated with distinction; passing the bar, he
15commenced the practice of law in Illinois; and
 
16    WHEREAS, As an Evanston community leader, Congressman
17Porter served as a director or an officer of the United
18Community Services of Evanston, the Evanston March of Dimes,
19the Southeast Evanston Association, the East Evanston
20Community Conference, the University Club of Evanston, the
21Evanston Historical Society, the Cove School for children with
22challenges, and the Evanston YMCA; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Congressman Porter ran and won as a Republican in
2the Illinois House of Representatives in the first election
3following the redistricting of the Illinois House and the
4Illinois Senate after the 1970 census; he served as a member of
5the Illinois House from 1973 to 1979, specializing in issues
6of conservation, fiscal restraint, and the criminal justice
7system; during his tenure, his voting record was honored by
8the League of Conservation Voters in 1973, the Independent
9Voters of Illinois in 1974, and the Chicago Crime Commission
10in 1976; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Congressman Porter successfully ran as a
12Republican for the vacancy in the then 10th U.S. House
13District within the State of Illinois due to the appointment
14and confirmation of Congressman Abner J. Mikva to the U.S.
15Court of Appeals in September 1979; he joined the U.S. House of
16Representatives on January 22, 1980; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Congressman Porter, as a member of Congress
18representing the North Shore of the Chicago metropolitan area
19and one of the best-educated U.S. House districts in the
20nation, found himself asked to speak out on a variety of
21issues, including issues of a bipartisan nature; and
 
22    WHEREAS, Congressman Porter won a coveted seat on the U.S.
23House Appropriations Committee, which gave him an insider's

 

 

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1voice on federal budget policy; his voice grew as time passed
2alongside the growth in numbers of his fellow Republicans in
3Congress; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Through seniority and his own expertise,
5Congressman Porter rose to become the chairperson of the
6federal House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and
7Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, giving him
8sign-off power over sections of the federal budget worth
9hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars; throughout this period,
10he continued to speak out as a voice for public sector fiscal
11restraint; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Congressman Porter became an advocate for growth
13and change in the 1980s and 1990s; when scientists came to him
14concerning advances in large-molecule research capabilities,
15he worked with them to achieve greater funding for the
16National Institutes of Health (NIH); his efforts allowed the
17NIH to pursue the Human Genome Project, which was aimed at
18identifying, mapping, and sequencing the DNA of the entire
19human genome, and the organization declared a complete genome
20had been sequenced in May 2021; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Congressman Porter also remembered Northwestern
22University while working in Congress, securing funding for the
23Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center on the Northwestern

 

 

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1Medical Campus in downtown Chicago and funding for the
2Pancoe-NSUHS Life Sciences Pavilion in Evanston; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Congressman Porter, after two decades in
4Congress, did not run for re-election in 2000; he was named as
5a recipient of the Mary Lasker Public Service Award for wise
6and perceptive leadership on behalf of medical research
7funding in 2000; he was also chosen as the namesake of the
8NIH's Neuroscience Research Center in Bethesda, Maryland in
9March 2014; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Upon his retirement in January 2001, Congressman
11Porter joined the Washington, D.C.-based private sector,
12practicing law and serving as an advisor to many policymaking
13and advisory institutions and panels; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Congressman Porter's legacy will live on in a
15myriad of ways; he helped many individuals get started in
16public service and professional life; he served as a mentor to
17young Congressional staff member Mark Kirk, who succeeded him
18in Congress as the U.S. Representative of Illinois' 10th
19District in 2001 before serving Illinois as a U.S. Senator
20from December 2010 to January 2017; he was a voice of fiscal
21restraint and forward vision and advocated for action on
22issues of global importance, which will have a lasting impact
23on the State of Illinois, the nation, and humankind; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Congressman Porter is survived by his spouse,
2Amy; his children and stepchildren, John, David, Annie, Robyn,
3Donna, McKay, and Michelle; and his 14 grandchildren;
4therefore, be it
 
5    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
6HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
7we mourn the passing of former Illinois State Representative
8and United States Congressman John Edward Porter and extend
9our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who
10knew and loved him; and be it further
 
11    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
12presented to Congressman Porter's spouse, Amy, and his son,
13David Porter, as an expression of our deepest sympathy.