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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Fifty years ago Bruce Nesbit founded Orion
3Industries, Ltd. - a company that applies Teflon coatings on
4products from consumer bakeware to automotive and industrial
5products; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Orion Industries has been a Dupont Licensed
7Applicator of Teflon since 1979; it not only applies Teflon and
8other functional coatings but creates, develops, and builds
9application equipment to apply the coatings; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Bruce Nesbit attended Lane Tech College Prep High
11School, Wilbur Wright Junior College (now Wilbur Wright
12College), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;
13in 1963 and 1964, while recovering from a broken ankle, he
14started Orion Industries in his parents' basement at 4654
15Laramie Avenue in Northwest Chicago; in that basement, he first
16applied coatings to race car engine parts, one of his lifelong
17passions, which resulted in him winning many road racing
18championships; and
 
19    WHEREAS, In 1964, Bruce Nesbit required start-up financing
20that was obtained by selling stock to friends, relatives, his
21initial suppliers, and anyone he could convince; this allowed
22him to open his first production facility at 346 North Justine

 

 

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1Street in Chicago; he eventually repaid all of his 45 initial
2shareholders with a handsome return on their investment and
3continued to grow his company; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Since that initial 3-person production facility,
5Bruce Nesbit has moved his company twice, first to 4640 Clark
6Street in 1981, and then in 1991 to the present production
7facility - a 22,000 square feet facility at 5170 North
8Northwest Highway; Orion Industries will be relocating in the
9near future to a new 68,000 square feet facility at 5480 North
10Northwest Highway; it has grown from 3 employees in 1964 to 138
11today; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Bruce Nesbit often gets kidded about his prototype
13machines, many of which have been patented; his unofficial
14title is CTO - Chief Tinkerologist; he holds 31 United States
15Patents, with 9 more pending; he is on the national board of
16the Society of the Plastics Industry and is a member of other
17committees and organizations such as Vistage International; he
18was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of
19Fame in 2013; his company was awarded the DuPont Plunkett Award
20for Industrial Innovation in 2014; gain-sharing, where
21employees are rewarded for productivity and efficiency, is the
22cornerstone of his management philosophy; and
 
23    WHEREAS, Bruce Nesbit continues to reside in Chicago; he

 

 

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1has 2 married daughters, one grandson, and another on the way;
2he is truly a Chicago guy, and along with his wife, Diane
3Jacobson, donates to several museums, artists, and theater
4groups, such as the TimeLine Theatre Company; they are also
5supporters of the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago, Adaptive
6Adventures, the Wounded Warriors Project, the Anchor Cross
7Society at Rush University Medical Center, breast cancer
8research, leukemia research, and other local charities and
9civic organizations; therefore, be it
 
10    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
11NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
12we recognize Bruce Nesbit and congratulate him on the success
13of his company Orion Industries, Ltd., and we wish him many
14more years of success; and be it further
 
15    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
16presented to Bruce Nesbit as an expression of our esteem and
17respect.