Bill Text: IL SR0637 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Mourns the death of Fred August Kummerow of Urbana.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2017-07-01 - Resolution Adopted [SR0637 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2017-SR0637-Introduced.html
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1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | ||||||
3 | learn of the death of Fred August Kummerow of Urbana, who | ||||||
4 | passed away on May 31, 2017; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow was born in Berlin, Germany to | ||||||
6 | Helene Rieck and August Kummerow on October 4, 1914, while his | ||||||
7 | father was away in the German Army fighting the Russians on the | ||||||
8 | Eastern Front; in 1923, at the age of eight, he and his family | ||||||
9 | emigrated to the United States; he began school in Milwaukee, | ||||||
10 | Wisconsin, not speaking a word of English; he graduated from | ||||||
11 | Boys Technical High School in Milwaukee in 1933; and
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12 | WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow was employed at Yahr Lange Drug & | ||||||
13 | Cosmetic Company, working 48-hours a week and taking night | ||||||
14 | classes four nights a week at the Milwaukee branch of the | ||||||
15 | University of Wisconsin, which was enough to make him a | ||||||
16 | sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison when he began | ||||||
17 | there in September of 1936; he graduated with a Bachelor of | ||||||
18 | Science in Chemistry in 1939; he started his graduate work with | ||||||
19 | Professor Harry Steenbok, the discoverer of Vitamin D; he was | ||||||
20 | awarded a Master of Science in 1941 and a Ph.D. in 1943, both | ||||||
21 | in Biochemistry; and
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22 | WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow married Amy Louise Hildebrand on |
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1 | June 24, 1942; in the Fall of 1943, they left Madison for a | ||||||
2 | National Research Council job at Clemson University in South | ||||||
3 | Carolina; the job aimed to eradicate pellagra, a disease caused | ||||||
4 | by the lack of niacin in the diet, which was still killing | ||||||
5 | 2,000 people in 1941; by 1945, only 12 people died of pellagra | ||||||
6 | because of the success of this project; he then took a position | ||||||
7 | as assistant professor in chemistry at Kansas State University | ||||||
8 | in Manhattan, Kansas; there, among other projects, he worked on | ||||||
9 | making frozen turkeys more edible by changing their diets; in | ||||||
10 | 1950, the family, now with children, Max and Jean, and | ||||||
11 | soon-to-be born, Kay, moved to Urbana for a position as | ||||||
12 | assistant professor of food chemistry in the newly organized | ||||||
13 | Department of Food Technology (later renamed Food Science); he | ||||||
14 | retired in 1985 and continued to serve as professor emeritus | ||||||
15 | and adjunct professor in the Department of Comparative | ||||||
16 | Biosciences, where he was actively involved in research; he | ||||||
17 | served as Ph.D. thesis adviser for more than 60 graduate | ||||||
18 | students; more than 50 post-doctoral fellows also performed | ||||||
19 | research at the Burnsides Research Laboratory, a facility which | ||||||
20 | Fred Kummerow built and headed on the University of Illinois | ||||||
21 | campus; and
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22 | WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow was an author or co-author of | ||||||
23 | approximately 450 peer-reviewed papers; the Burnsides Lab was | ||||||
24 | an international enterprise with students and professors from | ||||||
25 | at least 14 different countries working there over the years; |
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1 | he was awarded over $16 million in research grants and had | ||||||
2 | several million dollars of grants since his retirement to | ||||||
3 | support his research; he authored a book of nutritional advice | ||||||
4 | with his daughter, Jean, entitled "Cholesterol is Not the | ||||||
5 | Culprit"; and
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6 | WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow published a paper on the negative | ||||||
7 | heart health effects of trans fats in 1957 and had been | ||||||
8 | concerned about their effects ever since; he served on the | ||||||
9 | American Heart Association Diet Committee in 1968; and
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10 | WHEREAS, In 2009, at age 95, Fred Kummerow filed a Citizens | ||||||
11 | Petition with the Food and Drug Administration to ban trans fat | ||||||
12 | entirely; in 2014, after no action was taken, a lawsuit was | ||||||
13 | filed on his behalf; he was delighted and vindicated when the | ||||||
14 | FDA finally agreed that trans fats were dangerous and announced | ||||||
15 | their ban in 2015; slowly, nutritional and political | ||||||
16 | communities have come towards his point of view; he received | ||||||
17 | worldwide publicity for his work on trans fats, including | ||||||
18 | articles in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the | ||||||
19 | Washington Post, along with features by Al Jazeera, a Korean | ||||||
20 | television network, and the University of Illinois; never one | ||||||
21 | to slow down, he then began research on the effects of diet on | ||||||
22 | Alzheimer's disease; and
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23 | WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow received several awards for his |
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1 | research, including a "Scientist of Integrity" award from the | ||||||
2 | Weston Price Foundation; his intelligence and insight remained | ||||||
3 | quite strong, even after he reached the age of 102; he followed | ||||||
4 | politics avidly, writing numerous letters to public officials, | ||||||
5 | and advocating for peace and green energy; he felt that | ||||||
6 | spreading scientific knowledge throughout the world and | ||||||
7 | feeding people enough of the right foods would go a long way | ||||||
8 | towards promoting better health and longer lives; and
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9 | WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow supported his wife's political and | ||||||
10 | community activities, including Planned Parenthood and the | ||||||
11 | Democratic Party; he agreed with her liberal politics and was | ||||||
12 | proud when she was one of the first women elected to the | ||||||
13 | Champaign County Board, where she served for 20 years; and
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14 | WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow and his wife loved to travel; he | ||||||
15 | visited laboratories in Western and Eastern Europe, Japan, | ||||||
16 | India, Israel, China, Australia, and Cuba and presented | ||||||
17 | research at conferences all over the world; they also loved | ||||||
18 | going to the opera, especially LaBoheme; and
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19 | WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow was preceded in death by his wife, | ||||||
20 | Amy, and his brother, Werner; and
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21 | WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow is survived by his children, Max | ||||||
22 | (Ellen Jacobsen-Isserman), Jean (Frank Mabley), and Kay (Ron |
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1 | Mengarelli); his grandchildren, Elizabeth Loban, Robert Loban, | ||||||
2 | and Patrick Watson; his great-grandson, Asher Watson; and | ||||||
3 | numerous nieces and nephews; therefore, be it
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4 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL | ||||||
5 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of | ||||||
6 | Fred August Kummerow, and extend our sincere condolences to his | ||||||
7 | family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it | ||||||
8 | further
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9 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
10 | presented to the family of Fred Kummerow as an expression of | ||||||
11 | our deepest sympathy.
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