Full Text of SR0389 101st General Assembly
SR0389 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 | | learn of the death of Henry Lueders Henderson, who passed away | 4 | | on November 5, 2018 at the age of 66; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Henry Henderson was born in Granite City on May 5, | 6 | | 1952; he grew up in a heavily industrialized area of the town, | 7 | | where he and his friends found they could light on fire the | 8 | | water that seeped into basements after storms; that experience, | 9 | | along with many days spent at the Field Museum and a summer at | 10 | | the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, pushed him | 11 | | toward a career of protecting the environment and public | 12 | | health; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, Henry Henderson earned a bachelor's degree in | 14 | | philosophy and theology from Kenyon College in 1974; he then | 15 | | studied in England, where he earned a master's degree in | 16 | | philosophy from Oxford University; in 1976, he moved to Chicago | 17 | | and completed coursework for a doctorate at the University of | 18 | | Chicago; after finding himself drawn more to politics and law, | 19 | | he moved to St. Louis and earned a law degree at Washington | 20 | | University in 1982; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, Henry Henderson worked in the City of Chicago's | 22 | | law department, where he focused on environmental issues; he |
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| 1 | | served as the staff director of Mayor Harold Washington's | 2 | | Shoreline Protection Commission in the late 1980s; after taking | 3 | | office in 1989, former Mayor Richard M. Daley selected him to | 4 | | be the first environment Commissioner for the City of Chicago; | 5 | | in this role, he helped launch the city's blue-bag recycling | 6 | | program, helped shut down illegal garbage dumps, and oversaw | 7 | | the Chicago Brownfields Initiative, an effort to clean up | 8 | | abandoned industrial sites; he also helped lead the fight to | 9 | | preserve the North Park Village Nature Center and proposed | 10 | | stiffer fines and jail time for companies caught dumping | 11 | | construction waste in residential areas; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, According to Richard M. Daley, Henry Henderson was | 13 | | a "great leader during a vital time in Chicago's history"; he | 14 | | also noted, "Henry proved to be instrumental in the | 15 | | environmental movement here, long before other cities were | 16 | | acknowledging the need for such initiatives"; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, After leaving the City's Department of the | 18 | | Environment in 1998, Henry Henderson joined the Great Cities | 19 | | Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago as a senior | 20 | | fellow in an environmentally-oriented research and | 21 | | administrative post; he left UIC to start his own firm, Policy | 22 | | Solutions Ltd., and later served as an assistant attorney | 23 | | general for the State of Illinois, again focusing on the | 24 | | environment; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, In 2007, Henry Henderson was tapped to serve as | 2 | | the director for the newly-opened Midwest office of the Natural | 3 | | Resources Defense Council, a New York City-based international | 4 | | nonprofit environmental advocacy group; according to Mayor | 5 | | Rahm Emanuel, in that role Henderson's time "was spent holding | 6 | | polluters, governments, and City Hall accountable"; Mayor | 7 | | Emanuel also noted that "Chicagoans and all Midwesterners owe a | 8 | | debt of gratitude to Henry for his leadership and service"; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, United States Senator Dick Durbin stated, | 10 | | "Without Henry and his dogged work at NRDC, we would have never | 11 | | been as successful at addressing manganese pollution in | 12 | | Southeast Chicago or taking on contamination issues from BP | 13 | | Whiting"; he also noted, "His dedication to leaving this planet | 14 | | better and cleaner for the next generation will be long | 15 | | remembered"; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, Henry Henderson created the Chicago Greencorps, a | 17 | | job-training program that turned vacant lots into community | 18 | | gardens and built planter medians around the City; he felt | 19 | | strongly that to build a sustainable community, the most | 20 | | vulnerable populations had to be better served; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, Henry Henderson will be remembered as an architect | 22 | | of Illinois's Future Energy Jobs Act, one of the most |
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| 1 | | aggressive state-led climate efforts in the nation, and as one | 2 | | of the loudest and most persistent voices calling for the | 3 | | resuscitation of the Chicago River; under his leadership, NRDC | 4 | | initiated a lawsuit that forced water regulators to stop | 5 | | dumping water rife with human waste into the river; this | 6 | | cleanup effort precipitated the development of the Chicago | 7 | | Riverwalk; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Henry Henderson is survived by his wife, | 9 | | Jacqueline; his sons, James and Ben; and his sister, Ann Tonks; | 10 | | therefore, be it
| 11 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL | 12 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of | 13 | | Henry Lueders Henderson and extend our sincere condolences to | 14 | | his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it | 15 | | further
| 16 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 17 | | presented to the family of Henry Henderson as an expression of | 18 | | our deepest sympathy.
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