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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the
3 State of Illinois learned with regret of the death of Irving M.
4 Friedman on Tuesday, December 21, 2004; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Mr. Friedman was the son of immigrants from Poland
6 who were both garment workers in New York; he received a broad
7 liberal arts education from the City College of New York and
8 his law degree from New York University Law School in 1947; he
9 married Abigail Levin; and
 
10     WHEREAS, Mr. Friedman moved to Chicago from New York to
11 work for the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago; four
12 years later, he went into law practice in 1953 with Harold A.
13 Katz, who remained his law partner for half a century until Mr.
14 Friedman's passing; and
 
15     WHEREAS, Mr. Friedman dedicated his enormous talents and
16 energies to furthering the life and well being of the working
17 people of Illinois; he devoted more than half a century to
18 representing labor unions in manufacturing, in maritime and
19 longshoring, in education, in broadcasting, in the airlines
20 industry, and in government; he has been a frequent speaker to
21 legal, labor, and government groups; he served as Chair of the
22 Labor Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association; and
 
23     WHEREAS, Mr. Friedman participated in some of the most
24 important labor litigation in the country, including taking on
25 organized crime and Outfit-connected union leaders; he
26 triumphed also over white supremacists in Memphis who had
27 sought to deny black workers their equal membership rights; he
28 helped free segments of the American labor movement from the
29 domination of communists; he fought for the rights of pregnant
30 workers and on their behalf won one of the largest recoveries
31 ever made in a case before the EEOC; his law practice was

 

 

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1 always devoted to protecting the rights of injured and disabled
2 workers throughout Illinois; Mr. Friedman played a pivotal role
3 in protecting the job rights of UAW workers in Caterpillar
4 plants around Illinois and the nation in which successful
5 litigation by the union played a critical role in the retention
6 of the job rights of thousands of Illinois workers; and
 
7     WHEREAS, Remembered as a true gentleman who always
8 represented his clients with the utmost class, Mr. Friedman had
9 a great sense of fairness and warmth; he gave love to everyone
10 he knew and never judged people by their income or profession
11 or color; and he was always truly respected by many of the top
12 management lawyers and law firms and government agencies who,
13 even though they were his adversaries in the courtroom, held
14 him in the highest professional regard and esteem; and
 
15     WHEREAS, Mr. Friedman was inducted into the Hall of Honor
16 of the Illinois Labor History Society and was also a Fellow of
17 the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers; he was a former
18 Labor Member of the Board of Review of the Illinois Department
19 of Labor, and he served as a member of the Governor's
20 Commission on Labor that charted the path to the adoption in
21 Illinois of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act
22 (IELRA) and the Illinois Labor Relations Act (ILRA); and
 
23     WHEREAS, The passing of Irving M. Friedman has been deeply
24 felt by many, especially his wife, Abigail; his sons, Joey and
25 Danny; his daughter-in-law, Roxanne; his sister, Helen
26 Kaufman; and his three grandchildren, Jason, Sahara, and Max;
27 therefore, be it
 
28     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
29 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
30 we mourn the passing of Irving M. Friedman, a man who will be
31 remembered for his monumental contributions to the development
32 of the public policy of Illinois into one that has favored

 

 

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1 collective bargaining, the rights of working people to organize
2 and to enjoy the fruits of their labors, and to be protected
3 from all forms of discrimination in employment; and we extend
4 our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who
5 knew and loved him; and be it further
 
6     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
7 presented to his family as an expression of our deepest
8 sympathy.