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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3 learn of the death of William L. Rutherford of Peoria,
4 Illinois, who passed away on November 21, 2006; and
 
5     WHEREAS, William Rutherford was born on December 28, 1914,
6 in Peoria to Dr. Leslie and Margaret Tallman Rutherford; he
7 married Hazel S. (Sommer) Rutherford on Sept. 21, 1937; and
 
8     WHEREAS, He graduated from Bradley University in 1934 and
9 received his law degree in 1937 from the University of Chicago;
10 he attended Columbia University in New York City for graduate
11 work in taxation; and
 
12     WHEREAS, During World War II, William Rutherford served as
13 consultant to the Secretary of War in Washington, D.C.,
14 advising him on steel production and allocation; he returned to
15 Peoria after the war and practiced law in association with
16 several different attorneys, eventually in affiliation with
17 James M. Tomlin; he continued to practice law and continued to
18 work at the Forest Park Foundation/Wildlife Prairie State Park
19 until early this year; and
 
20     WHEREAS, William Rutherford and his wife were instrumental
21 in the purchase of more than 600,000 acres of land throughout
22 the world, which was then turned over to parks and public
23 bodies; he served on White House Commissions on Aging, served
24 several Illinois governors as a member of the Board of
25 Vocational Education, the Illinois Public Aid Commission, and
26 as the director of the Illinois Department of Conservation,
27 from which he negotiated the transfer of the Hennepin Canal and
28 Goose Lake Prairie properties to the State as recreational and
29 preservation resources; and
 
30     WHEREAS, William Rutherford was a founding member of the

 

 

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1 Forest Park Foundation; he and his wife Hazel directed
2 foundation activities creating the Wildlife Prairie Park,
3 which opened to the public in the fall of 1978; the foundation
4 deeded the park to the State of Illinois, and in 2000 the State
5 of Illinois changed the name of the park to the Hazel and Bill
6 Rutherford Wildlife Prairie State Park; and
 
7     WHEREAS, William Rutherford represented the Greater Peoria
8 Airport Authority during its formation and for years later,
9 advocating the development of the new Mount Hawley Airport; he
10 headed the Forest Park Foundation from its inception in 1939
11 until the spring of this year, founded the Institute of
12 Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, facilitated the
13 expansion and building of hospitals, health facilities,
14 housing for the elderly, the Safety Town young drivers
15 education facility, the Rock Island Trail, the Observation
16 Tower (and woodpecker) in Peoria Heights, and many other
17 Peoria-centered projects; though a well-traveled man, he
18 considered Peoria the center of his world; and
 
19     WHEREAS, William Rutherford was preceded in death by his
20 loving wife, Hazel, his two brothers, and one sister; and
 
21     WHEREAS, William Rutherford is survived by his sons, Dr.
22 William (Jan), and Dr. Ladd D. (Bonnie); his nine
23 grandchildren; and his two great-grandchildren; therefore, be
24 it
 
25     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL
26 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with
27 his family and friends, the passing of William L. Rutherford;
28 and be it further
 
29     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
30 presented to the family of William Rutherford.