HR1159 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1159 LRB095 20674 KXB 49000 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of R. Eugene Pincham of Chicago, who passed away on April 3, 2008; and

WHEREAS, R. Eugene Pincham was born in Chicago on June 28, 1924 and grew up in Alabama; he graduated from high school in 1942 and later attended LeMoyne College in Memphis; he transferred to Tennessee State University in 1944 and earned a bachelor's degree in political science in 1947; and

WHEREAS, He married Alzata C. Henry in 1948 and enrolled in Northwestern University School of Law that same year; he worked his way through school by waiting on tables at the Palmer House Hotel and shining shoes; he earned his law degree in 1951; and

WHEREAS, He practiced law for the next 25 years; he was a brilliant criminal defense lawyer and a hero in Chicago's black neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, He served as both a Cook County judge and Illinois Appellate Court justice; he became a Circuit Court judge in 1976 and was assigned to the Criminal Division, where he served until 1984; he then became an Appellate Court justice and resigned in 1989; and

WHEREAS, In 1989 he unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party nomination for president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners; he was the nominee for mayor of Chicago in the Harold Washington Party in 1991; he lost the election but carried 19 of the 50 city wards; and

WHEREAS, After his retirement, Judge Pincham continued to practice law; he also lectured at Harvard University, Northwestern, DePaul, Notre Dame, and the University of Chicago; he was a member of the American Civil Liberties Union and a lifetime member of the NAACP; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with his family and friends, the passing of Judge R. Eugene Pincham; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of R. Eugene Pincham as a symbol of our sympathy.