HR1205 LRB094 20291 HSS 58306 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, Mr. Louis H. Rago has been named a recipient of
3 the Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Humanitarian of the Year Award
4 given by the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans
5 (JCCIA); and
 
6     WHEREAS, The JCCIA's Joseph Cardinal Bernardin
7 Humanitarian of the Year Award is presented annually to those
8 whose lives exemplify the virtues of caring, humanity, and good
9 will that were the hallmark of Cardinal Bernardin's tenure as
10 Archbishop of Chicago; and
 
11     WHEREAS, Mr. Rago served as president of the JCCIA from
12 1997 to 1998; he has been in the forefront of combating Italian
13 stereotypes since he became involved in the Chicago-area
14 Italian-American community; and
 
15     WHEREAS, He was born and raised on Chicago's Near North
16 Side at Grand and Western avenues, an area known as "The
17 Patch"; he attended Holy Rosary Parish School and later St.
18 Genevieve School; during his freshman year of high school at
19 DePaul Academy, he started working for his father's funeral
20 home business; he was 18 when his father passed away, and he
21 decided to go to mortuary school and enter the family business;
22 and
 
23     WHEREAS, It was during this time that he became actively
24 involved with the Italian-American community; since 1967, he
25 has been involved in coordinating the assembly area and the
26 line of march for the Columbus Day Parade; he has also served
27 as past president of Amerital Chicago and Greater Chicago
28 chapters of UNICO National and the Joint Civic Committee of
29 Italian Americans; and
 
30     WHEREAS, As president of the JCCIA, Mr. Rago led a

 

 

HR1205 - 2 - LRB094 20291 HSS 58306 r

1 demonstration against the Chicago Tribune for the paper's lack
2 of sensitivity regarding comments made by one of its writers;
3 Mr. Rago also founded the Italian American Human Relations
4 Foundation of Chicago; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Throughout the years, Mr. Rago has also dedicated
6 himself to many worthwhile charities; he served as a past
7 trustee of the Easter Seals Society of Illinois and is the past
8 director of the Hemophilia Foundation; and
 
9     WHEREAS, He is the third-generation owner of the Original
10 Rago Brothers Funeral Homes, and currently serves as the
11 president of the Midwest Group/Memorial Traditions of
12 Illinois; he is the father of three children, and two of his
13 sons work in the family business; he says that he has enjoyed
14 every minute of his activities in the Italian-American
15 community and is happy to contribute by fighting against
16 negative stereotypes; 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 Mr. Louis H. Rago on being a recipient of the
20 Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Humanitarian of the Year Award given
21 by the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans; and be it
22 further
 
23     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
24 presented to Mr. Rago as an expression of our esteem.