HR0468 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0468 LRB102 20287 LAW 29139 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Vernon Eulion Jordan Jr. of Washington, D.C., who passed away on March 1, 2021; and

WHEREAS, Vernon Jordan was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Vernon Jordan Sr. and Mary Belle Jordan on August 15, 1935; he graduated from an all-Black high school in Atlanta; he enrolled at DePauw University in Indiana, where he took part in college oratory contests; he graduated from Howard University School of Law in 1960; he married Shirley Yarbrough, and she preceded him in death in December 1985; he married Ann Dibble Cook in November 1986; and

WHEREAS, Vernon Jordan became a law clerk to Donald Lee Hollowell, a prominent Black lawyer who led a one-man civil rights practice in Atlanta; during this time, he worked closely on the case that desegregated the University of Georgia; and

WHEREAS, Vernon Jordan became director of the Voter Education Project of the Southern Regional Council and was named executive director of the United Negro College Fund in 1970; a year later, he was recruited to be the head of the National Urban League, which brought him to New York; during his tenure, the group began issuing a widely read annual report titled The State of Black America; he began pivoting away from active leadership of the group to take on the roles of lawyer and counselor for banks and corporations; and

WHEREAS, Vernon Jordan was recruited to join the Texas and Washington-based law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld by Robert Strauss in 1982, where he served as a lawyer-lobbyist; he was named co-chairman of the Clinton transition effort and became a confidant of President Bill Clinton; he was recruited to handle sensitive issues for the White House; he joined the Wall Street investment firm Lazard while remaining associated with Akin, Gump in 1999; and

WHEREAS, Vernon Jordan served on more than a dozen corporate and nonprofit boards, including the Celanese Corporation, Bankers Trust, American Express, and Xerox; he co-wrote his memoir Vernon Can Read! with Annette Gordon-Reed, which was published in 2001; he was the subject of an hour-long PBS documentary, Vernon Jordan: Make It Plain in 2020; and

WHEREAS, Vernon Jordan was a man who saw it as his duty to advance the next generation of African Americans in the United States and used his decades of amassed influence to cultivate the next generation of Black leaders in business, politics, and the nonprofit world; his legacy will not be forgotten; and

WHEREAS, At the time of his death, Vernon Jordan was survived by his wife, Ann Dibble Jordan; his daughter, Vickee Jordan Adams; two grandsons; and three stepchildren; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Vernon Eulion Jordan Jr. and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Vernon Jordan as an expression of our deepest sympathy.