Bill Text: IL HR0950 | 2013-2014 | 98th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Mourns the death of Rich Williamson of Kenilworth.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Passed) 2014-03-26 - Resolution Adopted [HR0950 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2013-HR0950-Introduced.html
| |||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| ||||||
2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
3 | Representatives are saddened to learn of the
death of Illinois | ||||||
4 | GOP mainstay Rich Williamson of Kenilworth, who passed away on | ||||||
5 | December 8, 2013; and
| ||||||
6 | WHEREAS, Rich Williamson was born on May 9, 1949 in | ||||||
7 | Evanston to Marian and
Donald Williamson; he attended New Trier | ||||||
8 | High School and Princeton
University, where he played varsity | ||||||
9 | football, was senior class president, and graduated
cum laude | ||||||
10 | in 1971; he went on to receive his law degree from the | ||||||
11 | University of
Virginia in 1974, where he was executive editor | ||||||
12 | of the Virginia Journal of International
Law; during his time | ||||||
13 | at Princeton, he met the love of his life, Jane Thatcher, on a | ||||||
14 | plane
as he was returning home from Princeton and she was | ||||||
15 | returning home from Wellesley; it
was love at first sight and | ||||||
16 | they were married soon after; and
| ||||||
17 | WHEREAS, Rich Williamson had a long and successful career | ||||||
18 | that stretched from being a top
foreign policy adviser to GOP | ||||||
19 | presidential nominee Mitt Romney to taking on Carol
Moseley | ||||||
20 | Braun; and
| ||||||
21 | WHEREAS, Rich Williamson served 3 presidents in high-level | ||||||
22 | positions, serving as
Assistant Secretary of State for |
| |||||||
| |||||||
1 | International Affairs, Assistant to the President for
| ||||||
2 | Intergovernmental Affairs, Ambassador to the U.N. for Special | ||||||
3 | Political Affairs, and
Ambassador to the U.N. Commission on | ||||||
4 | Human Rights, as well as several other posts at
the United | ||||||
5 | Nations; and
| ||||||
6 | WHEREAS, Rich Williamson tried his hand at electoral | ||||||
7 | politics and ran for the U.S. Senate in
1992; he later served | ||||||
8 | as Republican National Committeeman for Illinois
and chaired | ||||||
9 | the Illinois Republican Party from 1999 to 2001; in 2007, | ||||||
10 | former President George W. Bush tapped him to be a special
| ||||||
11 | envoy for Sudan to help stop killing in the Darfur region; at | ||||||
12 | the time of his passing, he was working with former Secretary | ||||||
13 | of
State Madeleine Albright on the prevention of future | ||||||
14 | genocides; and
| ||||||
15 | WHEREAS, Rich Williamson also worked as a partner at the | ||||||
16 | law firms of Winston & Strawn
and Mayer Brown, taught foreign | ||||||
17 | policy at Northwestern University, and wrote books on
foreign | ||||||
18 | policy; he authored 8 books, edited 3, and wrote more than
175 | ||||||
19 | articles in professional and popular periodicals; and
| ||||||
20 | WHEREAS, Rich Williamson was known to not carry much on his | ||||||
21 | travel, but he always had 10
pounds of books and a yellow legal | ||||||
22 | pad that he preferred to a laptop; he lived in a home filled | ||||||
23 | with thousands of books and mementos of
his travels, including |
| |||||||
| |||||||
1 | baskets, sculptures, and masks produced by refugees, and photos | ||||||
2 | of his family in Dubai, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Croatia; and
| ||||||
3 | WHEREAS, Rich Williamson will be sorely missed by his | ||||||
4 | family and by the people he served; he has left a lasting | ||||||
5 | legacy, not only on Illinois and the United States,
but on the | ||||||
6 | world as well; and
| ||||||
7 | WHEREAS, Rich Williamson is survived by his loving wife of | ||||||
8 | 4 years, Jane Thatcher; his
children, Elisabeth (Ryan) Graham, | ||||||
9 | Craig Salisbury, and Richard (Sara) Middleton; his | ||||||
10 | granddaughter, Cora Jane; his brother, Bruce (Alice); his | ||||||
11 | sister, Barb (Erv); and
his 10 nieces and nephews; therefore, | ||||||
12 | be it
| ||||||
13 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
14 | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
15 | we mourn, along with his family, friends, and the citizens of | ||||||
16 | Illinois, the passing of Rich Williamson; and be it further
| ||||||
17 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
18 | presented to the family of Rich
Williamson as a symbol of our | ||||||
19 | deepest sympathy and respect.
|