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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, "Million Dollar Baby", a film about a female
3 boxer, her hard-boiled trainer, and the trainer's right-hand
4 man, won Academy Awards in the best picture, best actress, best
5 supporting actor, and best director categories; and
 
6     WHEREAS, "Million Dollar Baby" is the latest in a series of
7 hits from producer Tom Rosenberg of Chicago; he is the founder
8 and chairman of Lakeshore Entertainment and was the producer of
9 "Million Dollar Baby"; and
 
10     WHEREAS, He was born to outgoing, gregarious parents; his
11 mother, tragically, died when he was 15; his father, Thomas,
12 served as alderman of the 44th Ward and was also a Cook County
13 Circuit Judge; and
 
14     WHEREAS, Tom Rosenberg grew up on Chicago's North Side and
15 attended Lake View High School, then the University of
16 Wisconsin at Madison; he worked as a public school teacher,
17 moved on to law school at the University of California at
18 Berkeley, and then became a country lawyer in the Ozark
19 mountain town of Willow Springs in southern Missouri; and
 
20     WHEREAS, He went on to work in real estate, and in 1977 he
21 launched a firm named Capital Associates with a partner; their
22 first housing development went up in Decatur; and
 
23     WHEREAS, As one of Chicago's most active and successful
24 real estate developers, Mr. Rosenberg built 54 buildings
25 in-state and out-of-state, in addition to overseeing the city's
26 largest-ever school construction program; and
 
27     WHEREAS, He represented West Side residents and the City of
28 Chicago in negotiations with the Bulls and Blackhawks before
29 the United Center was built; and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, Mr. Rosenberg has ventured into the political
2 realm as well; he advised Chicago mayors dating from Jane Byrne
3 to Richard M. Daley; in 1984, Democratic presidential nominee
4 Walter Mondale asked Mr. Rosenberg to oversee much of his
5 Midwestern campaign; and
 
6     WHEREAS, He was initially hesitant to enter the world of
7 film production, but he and a childhood friend started the
8 company Beacon Communications and chose as their first project
9 an adaptation of Roddy Doyle's novel, "The Commitments"; the
10 film was directed by Alan Parker and released in 1991 and was
11 the first hit for Beacon; and
 
12     WHEREAS, In 1994, Beacon was sold to the public company
13 Comsat, and Mr. Rosenberg founded Lakeshore Entertainment on
14 his own; his impressive string of hits includes "The
15 Commitments", "Runaway Bride", "The Human Stain",
16 "Underworld", and now, "Million Dollar Baby"; therefore, be it
 
17     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
18 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
19 we congratulate Tom Rosenberg on his lifetime of accomplishment
20 and on his recent Academy Awards success with his movie,
21 "Million Dollar Baby"; and be it further
 
22     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
23 presented to Mr. Rosenberg as an expression of our respect and
24 esteem.