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92_SR0412
LRB9216743BHbhA
1 SENATE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened
3 to learn of the death Stuart R. Paddock Jr. of Rolling
4 Meadows, who passed away April 15, 2002; and
5 WHEREAS, Mr. Paddock was the president and publisher of
6 the Daily Herald Newspaper since 1968, and publisher emeritus
7 since 1998; he transformed the Daily Herald from a group of
8 small-town weeklies into one of the largest and most
9 successful suburban newspapers in America, with a daily
10 circulation of 148,856 papers, 77th largest in the country
11 and third-largest in Illinois; and
12 WHEREAS, Stuart Paddock Jr. was born September 19, 1915,
13 in Palatine; he began working for the family paper, then run
14 by his grandfather, Hosea C. Paddock, as a "printer's devil,"
15 working in the re-melt room; his job was to pour molten metal
16 into molds, which were used in the linotype machines; and
17 WHEREAS, Mr. Paddock graduated from Knox College in
18 Galesburg in 1937 with a liberal arts degree and a major in
19 economics; after hitchhiking toward California, he returned
20 to Illinois and worked as assistant editor at the newspaper;
21 and
22 WHEREAS, Mr. Paddock was called into service shortly
23 after Pearl Harbor and entered as a second lieutenant,
24 serving as a company commander in a tank destroyer battalion
25 with General Patton's Third Army in Europe; he was discharged
26 as a captain in 1946 and is remembered as being a fine
27 officer and a real gentleman; and
28 WHEREAS, Mr. Paddock returned to the paper after his tour
29 of duty and concentrated his efforts in production and the
30 company's commercial printing business; and
31 WHEREAS, Mr. Paddock became a vice president and director
-2- LRB9216743BHbhA
1 of Paddock Publications in 1948; in 1968, after the death of
2 his father, Stuart R. Paddock Sr., Mr. Paddock became
3 president and publisher; he worked closely with his brother,
4 the late Robert Y. Paddock, and sister, the late Margie
5 Flanders, to build the paper up to its current status; Mr.
6 Paddock was named chairman of Paddock Publications in 1986
7 and became publisher emeritus in 1998; he would have
8 celebrated his 65th anniversary working for the paper in
9 June; and
10 WHEREAS, Mr. Paddock cared deeply for his employees and
11 constantly kept in good rapport with them, all of whom knew
12 him affectionately as "Stu"; and
13 WHEREAS, Stuart Paddock Jr. was a member of many
14 organizations, such as the Pulitzer Prize Jury in 1970 and
15 1971, and the Headline Club of Chicago; he was Past president
16 (1960-1961) and director of the Illinois Press Association,
17 past Illinois State chairman of the National Newspaper
18 Association, past director, vice president, and treasurer of
19 the Suburban Newspaper Section of the National Newspaper
20 Association; Mr. Paddock was a member of the Business
21 Advisory Council of the University of Illinois at Circle
22 Campus, past president and current director of the Cook
23 County Suburban Publishers Association, past director of the
24 Printing Industry of Illinois, and national chairman of the
25 Newspaper Committee for a Free and Competitive Press; and
26 WHEREAS, Mr. Paddock was named to the Chicago Area
27 Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in February, 2001; he was the
28 recipient of "Good Scout Award" from Northwest Suburban
29 Council, Boy Scouts of America in 1995; Mr. Paddock was
30 honored by Rotary International for his philanthropic work,
31 as a Paul Harris Fellow in 1989, and he was recognized as one
32 of the 10 most influential Northwest suburbanites in a survey
33 conducted by the Daily Herald in 1981; and
-3- LRB9216743BHbhA
1 WHEREAS, Mr. Paddock's interests were numerous, including
2 classical music, horse racing, the Bears, and opera; he
3 supported the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera,
4 Ravinia, the Goodman Theatre, and the Elgin Symphony
5 Orchestra; and
6 WHEREAS, The passing of Stuart R. Paddock Jr. will be
7 deeply felt by all those who knew him and loved him,
8 especially by his wife, Anne; his five daughters and son;
9 Anne's four children; and their combined 23 grandchildren and
10 four great-grandchildren, and all of the 880 employees of the
11 Daily Herald; therefore, be it
12 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SECOND GENERAL
13 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with
14 his family and friends, the death of Stuart R. Paddock Jr.;
15 and be it further
16 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
17 presented to the family of Stuart R. Paddock Jr. with our
18 sincere condolences.