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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened
3to learn of the death of Alan L. "Al" Larson, the former and
4longest-serving Mayor of the Village of Schaumburg, who passed
5away on March 19, 2024; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Al Larson was born on October 21, 1938; he and his
7family moved to Schaumburg in the late 1960s; he earned an
8Associate of Science from William Rainey Harper College in
9Palatine; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Al Larson began serving the Village of Schaumburg
11in 1973, when he was appointed public relations director and
12as a member of the village's first Environmental Committee; he
13was next appointed to the Zoning Board of Appeals and was named
14chairman of the Environmental Committee in 1974; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Al Larson began his political tenure as a village
16trustee of Schaumburg in 1975, a position he held across three
17terms for a total of 12 years; he reintroduced and revitalized
18the concept of a Schaumburg Historic District to aid in the
19preservation of historic buildings, leading to the
20establishment of the Olde Schaumburg Centre Historic District;
21during his tenure, he also co-founded the Spring Valley Nature
22Sanctuary, and he received the 1976 Environmental Award from

 

 

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1the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for his efforts,
2becoming one of only two locally elected officials to receive
3the award; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Al Larson served as Mayor of the Village of
5Schaumburg for eight terms from 1987 to 2019; he led many
6development projects in the retail, residential, and
7commercial sectors, significantly raising Schaumburg's profile
8locally and nationally; he spearheaded the initiative for the
9village to acquire the privately-owned Schaumburg Airpark as a
10public airfield in 1994, known today as the Schaumburg
11Regional Airport; he oversaw the village's acquisition of Town
12Square Shopping Center in 1995; he built collaborative
13relationships with local government partners, bringing a
14professional baseball team to the village in 1999; he also
15supervised the village's acquisition of a previously
16underproductive tract of land on Schaumburg's northeast side
17that became the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel
18in 2016; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Al Larson was also instrumental in broadening
20cultural programming through helping launch the annual Prairie
21Arts Festival, initiating the development of a theater
22workshop for young people, promoting the development of the
23Schaumburg Youth Orchestra, and pushing for the establishment
24of a youth ballet troupe that led to the founding of the

 

 

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1Schaumburg Dance Ensemble; in recognition of his achievements
2in the arts, the Prairie Center was renamed the Al Larson
3Prairie Center for the Arts in his honor in 2017; after
4finishing his service as mayor in 2019, he was appointed to the
5village's 1% for Art Committee and Cultural Commission, where
6he continued to serve until his passing, and he helped fund the
7Prairie Center Arts Foundation's Young Artist Assistance
8Program in 2020; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Al Larson held leadership positions in several
10organizations, which included serving as past president and
11vice president of the Illinois Municipal League, chair of
12Joint Action Water Agency, co-chair of the STAR Line Steering
13Committee, and past president of the Northwest Municipal
14Conference, where he also served as a member of the executive
15board and as past chair of the Transportation Committee; he
16served on the boards of Arts Alliance Illinois, the Chicago
17Area Transportation Study, the Illinois Public Airports
18Association, and PACE; he was a member of the O'Hare Noise
19Compatibility Commission, the Council of Mayors, and the
20Transportation Infrastructure and Services Steering Committee
21for the National League of Cities; he also served on the
2215-member Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and its
23executive committee, charged with integrating land use and
24transportation planning for the 7-county area of northeastern
25Illinois; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Al Larson was known for his mentorship, charisma,
2and love for Schaumburg; he will be remembered as a visionary
3who dedicated more than 45 years of his life to serving
4Schaumburg, ensuring its future for generations to come;
5therefore, be it
 
6    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL
7ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
8Alan L. "Al" Larson, the former and longest-serving Mayor of
9the Village of Schaumburg, and extend our sincere condolences
10to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be
11it further
 
12    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
13presented to the family of Al Larson as an expression of our
14deepest sympathy.