HR0904LRB102 28470 MST 40346 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Future Attorney General Jim Ryan was born on
3February 21, 1946; a native of Illinois, he was born in
4Chicago; he moved to the suburb of Villa Park with his family;
5and
 
6    WHEREAS, Growing up in the church, young Jim Ryan found a
7series of mentors and inspirations in the DuPage County
8educational institutions affiliated with the Order of Saint
9Benedict; he attended Saint Procopius Academy, an all-boys
10school at the time of his attendance, and then Saint Procopius
11College; and
 
12    WHEREAS, With his home in Villa Park and his place of
13schooling in Lisle, before his eyes, Jim Ryan could see how
14DuPage County and the United States were growing and changing
15in the 1950s and 1960s; throughout his life, he would be a
16voice for ordered change and thoughtful continuity; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Graduating from college in 1968, Jim Ryan chose
18the law for his life and began his studies at Chicago-Kent
19College of Law; in 1971, he received his degree and passed the
20bar exam, soon commencing work as a prosecutor within the
21Office of the DuPage County State's Attorney; and
 

 

 

HR0904- 2 -LRB102 28470 MST 40346 r

1    WHEREAS, After experience as both a senior member of the
2DuPage County State's Attorney's office and in private
3practice, Jim Ryan sought the nomination of the Republican
4Party for DuPage County State's Attorney in 1984 and was his
5party's nominee in the general election; he became the chief
6prosecutor in Illinois's second-most-populous county; and
 
7    WHEREAS, During Jim Ryan's legal leadership in DuPage
8County, the population of the county grew from 658,835 in the
91980 United States Census to 781,666 in 1990, with further
10growth towards 904,161 in 2000; this growth created new
11opportunities and challenges, including the massive office
12move associated with the opening of the new DuPage County
13Government Center in 1990 on the outskirts of the county seat
14of Wheaton; and
 
15    WHEREAS, As state's attorney, Jim Ryan won the praise of
16his neighbors for the operations of his key office during this
17time of growth and change, winning reelection in 1988 and
181992; also respected by his fellow state's attorneys, he was
19chosen as president of the Illinois State's Attorneys
20Association, thus becoming the chief voice in Springfield of
21solutions to the challenges faced by professional prosecutors;
22and
 
23    WHEREAS, With a tough-on-crime image derived from his ten

 

 

HR0904- 3 -LRB102 28470 MST 40346 r

1years as DuPage County's lead prosecutor, Jim Ryan was
2nominated by the Republicans in 1994 to be the Attorney
3General of Illinois; when he won the statewide election in
4November 1994, this switched control of the Attorney General's
5Office between the two political parties; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Despite the partisan nature of politics, as
7attorney general, Jim Ryan saw it as his mission to work
8closely with prosecutors, law enforcement officials, and
9leaders from all over Illinois, including his former fellow
10state's attorney Richard M. Daley of Cook County, a Democrat,
11who had become the mayor of Chicago; and
 
12    WHEREAS, One of the newest authorizations granted to the
13Office of the Illinois Attorney General when Jim Ryan took
14over in 1995 was the authorization to convene statewide grand
15juries; the Statewide Grand Jury Act (1991) had raised serious
16concerns among many county state's attorneys; and
 
17    WHEREAS, As an experienced former state's attorney
18himself, with ties of friendship and acquaintanceship across
19Illinois, Jim Ryan brokered the current system of written and
20unwritten agreements that has made the Statewide Grand Jury
21Bureau within the Office of the Attorney General a key element
22in the Illinois prosecution of multi-county cases, especially
23cases involving guns, drugs, or computers; and
 

 

 

HR0904- 4 -LRB102 28470 MST 40346 r

1    WHEREAS, By 1995, Illinois and its Medicaid system, paid
2for by Illinois taxpayers, had incurred billions of dollars in
3current and future healthcare billings for treatments provided
4to Medicaid-eligible Illinois residents who had smoked
5cigarettes and who had then developed cancer and other health
6conditions related to smoking; and
 
7    WHEREAS, In November 1996, the State of Illinois, with Jim
8Ryan in the lead in his capacity as attorney general, filed a
9major lawsuit against the U.S. tobacco industry, including all
10of the major firms that worked together at that time to
11dominate the manufacture and supply of cigarettes; and
 
12    WHEREAS, This lawsuit required an unprecedented level of
13interstate cooperation between the attorneys general of the
14states that had filed lawsuits of this type; Jim Ryan and his
15colleagues had to deploy full-time coordination teams to share
16data and case-law information in order to create a united
17front for their litigation; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Due in part to his own hard work and with the
19active cooperation of many other attorneys general from across
20the United States, Jim Ryan was able to reach and announce a
21landmark settlement with the tobacco companies in 1998; the
22agreement included a future cash flow for the plaintiff states

 

 

HR0904- 5 -LRB102 28470 MST 40346 r

1derived from moneys taken in by suppliers of cigarettes; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Under this settlement, the industry also barred
3itself, on a nationwide basis, from many forms of tobacco
4advertising, including advertising featuring cartoons and
5anthropomorphic mascots (Joe Camel) designed to attract
6underage customers; and
 
7    WHEREAS, During the 24 years since the announcement of
8this settlement, Illinois and its taxpayers have received
9payments from the tobacco industry that now total $9.1
10billion, money that has not had to be levied in taxes; and
 
11    WHEREAS, The Office of the Illinois Attorney General now
12routinely contacts, talks to, communicates with, and
13cooperates in a wide variety of policy activities and
14litigation activities with other attorneys general in other
15U.S. states; this pattern of interstate cooperation between
16the chief lawyers of the separate states is another enduring
17legacy of Jim Ryan and illustrates his commitment to
18cooperation, change, and continuity; and
 
19    WHEREAS, After the announcement of the tobacco settlement,
20Jim Ryan ran for re-election in 1998, winning in a landslide;
21and
 

 

 

HR0904- 6 -LRB102 28470 MST 40346 r

1    WHEREAS, Urged by many across Illinois to run for Governor
2of Illinois in 2002 upon the retirement of George Ryan, Jim
3Ryan did so and was the Republican Party nominee;
4unfortunately, the names of George Ryan and the Democratic
5nominee for the same office, Rod Blagojevich, echoed louder in
6the press and in the minds of voters than the honored name of
7Jim Ryan; and
 
8    WHEREAS, After leaving the office of attorney general at
9the end of 2002, Jim Ryan returned to his educational home, now
10Benedictine University, as an instructor and teacher in
11political science and in criminal justice; and
 
12    WHEREAS, In 2005, Jim Ryan and his friends established the
13Center for Civic Leadership at Benedictine University as an
14ongoing center of teaching and training for young adults,
15inside and outside the Benedictine student body, in civil,
16open dialogue across political boundaries; and
 
17    WHEREAS, In the years following 2003, Jim Ryan also
18practiced law at Gardner, Carton & Douglas in Chicago and was
19of counsel at Jim Ryan & Associates in Naperville; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Throughout his life as a lawyer, public official,
21and teacher, Jim Ryan was sustained by the love of his family;
22in 2022, this included his wife, Marie; his son, John, and

 

 

HR0904- 7 -LRB102 28470 MST 40346 r

1John's wife, Stacie; his son, Jim, and Jim's wife, Jennifer;
2his son, Matthew, and Matthew's wife, Melissa; and his
3daughter, Amy Ryan; and many grandchildren; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Jim Ryan's life included the devastating losses
5of his daughter Anne Marie "Annie" Ryan and his son Patrick J.
6Ryan, whom he always loved; and
 
7    WHEREAS, On June 12, 2022, the life of former Attorney
8General Jim Ryan came to an end in DuPage County, his home
9county; in an hour of great partisanship, his legacy was
10praised by leading Illinoisans from both sides of the
11political aisle; therefore, be it
 
12    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
13HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
14we join in mourning the death of former Attorney General Jim
15Ryan, an honored son of Illinois; and be it further
 
16    RESOLVED, That we remember the enduring contributions made
17by Jim Ryan to the professional operations of the lead
18public-sector attorneys of Illinois, states' attorneys, and
19the Office of the Attorney General alike; and be it further
 
20    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution should
21be presented to the wife of Attorney General Jim Ryan, Annie

 

 

HR0904- 8 -LRB102 28470 MST 40346 r

1Ryan.