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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, John Marshall Law School was founded in 1899 on
3 the principle that, in a healthy democracy, the study of the
4 law should be available to all qualified students; and
 
5     WHEREAS, John Marshall, a non-profit law school, has
6 honored its mission of access and opportunity from its earliest
7 years, when the first graduating classes included women and
8 African Americans, to the present, with the most recent class
9 made up of 46% women and 29% minorities; and
 
10     WHEREAS, John Marshall consistently ranks among the best
11 law schools in the nation for legal writing and trial advocacy,
12 core skills for training the next generations of successful
13 lawyers; and
 
14     WHEREAS, In 1993, John Marshall opened its Fair Housing
15 Clinic to provide pro bono legal representation to those
16 impacted by housing discrimination; and
 
17     WHEREAS, In 2008, John Marshall opened its Veterans Legal
18 Support Center and Clinic to provide pro bono legal
19 representation to our returning service members as they fought
20 for their disability benefits; and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, John Marshall has enjoyed a long tradition of
2 alumni serving in the public sector; nearly one-fifth of the
3 judiciary in the State of Illinois and numerous current General
4 Assembly members, including Senators Michael Noland and Ira
5 Silverstein and Representatives Franco Coladipietro, Michael
6 Connelly, Jim Durkin, Careen Gordon, Andre Thapedi, and Michael
7 Zalewski, are all former graduates of the school; and
 
8     WHEREAS, John Marshall is also proud of its alumni who have
9 served in the United States Congress, including John W. Cox,
10 Thomas E. Ewing, and George E. Sangmeister; and
 
11     WHEREAS, George Sangmeister was born in Frankfort, and
12 graduated from Joliet Junior College in 1951; he went on to
13 serve our country in the United States Army as an infantryman
14 during the Korean War; he then came back and earned his
15 bachelor's degree from Elmhurst College in 1957; and
 
16     WHEREAS, George Sangmeister earned his LL.B. and J.D.
17 degrees at the John Marshall Law School; he then practiced law
18 at the firm of McKeown, Fitzgerald, Zollner, Buck, Hutchison,
19 and Ruttle in Joliet and Frankfort, where he reached the status
20 of Partner; and
 
21     WHEREAS, George Sangmeister then represented the good
22 people of the Greater Will County Area as State's Attorney and

 

 

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1 Magistrate in the Circuit Court; he served in the General
2 Assembly as a State Representative from 1972 to 1976, and as a
3 State Senator from 1976 to 1987; he also served in Congress
4 from 1989 to 1995; and
 
5     WHEREAS, The law school, led by Dean John E. Corkery, Board
6 of Trustees President Leonard F. Amari, Foundation President
7 John R. Lee, and the Greater Will County Alumni, has
8 established the George E. Sangmeister Memorial Public Service
9 Scholarship to support those graduates, like George, who seek a
10 career in the public sector; and
 
11     WHEREAS, The George E. Sangmeister Memorial Public Service
12 Scholarship was presented at a gathering of Greater Will County
13 Alumni at a reception hosted at the law offices of Mahoney,
14 Silverman & Cross in Joliet, where George Sangmeister's widow,
15 Doris, and his son, Kurt, were present to announce the
16 scholarship; and
 
17     WHEREAS, At the same event, the law school celebrated the
18 distinguished careers of two members of the Class of 1951,
19 Judge John F. Cirricione and Judge William R. Penn, of the Will
20 County Circuit Court; therefore, be it
 
21     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
22 NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we

 

 

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1 congratulate the administration and faculty of John Marshall
2 Law School for its continuing commitment to train men and women
3 to serve the people of the State of Illinois; and be it further
 
4     RESOLVED, That we recognize the distinguished career of
5 George E. Sangmeister and the exemplary service he gave to the
6 legal profession and the State of Illinois; and be it further
 
7     RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
8 presented to Mrs. Doris H. Sangmeister and the John Marshall
9 Law School Board of Trustees as a symbol of our esteem and
10 respect.