Bill Text: IL SR0863 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Congratulates the 2026 inductees to the Illinois Manufacturing Hall of Fame and commends them for their historic and positive impact on Illinois and the United States.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)

Status: (Introduced) 2026-05-31 - Referred to Assignments [SR0863 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-SR0863-Introduced.html

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SR0863 LRB104 22268 MST 38646 r
SENATE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate wish to
congratulate the 2026 inductees to the Illinois Manufacturing
Hall of Fame and commend them for their historic and positive
impact on Illinois and the United States; and
WHEREAS, Illinois manufacturers play a major role in the
State's economy, employing 650,000 workers directly and
contributing the single largest share of Illinois' gross
domestic product; and
WHEREAS, Illinois manufacturers have played a major role
in every significant event in the history of the United
States, including the Civil War, World War II while serving as
the Arsenal of Democracy, the Industrial Revolution, Industry
4.0, the Space Race, and now quantum; and
WHEREAS, Illinois manufacturers make the world a better
place to live every single day by creating lifesaving medical
products, feeding people throughout the world, making
transportation systems that move people and products around
the globe and into space, employing new communication
technologies that were not envisioned a short decade ago,
building our critical infrastructure, and providing for our
nation's defense; and

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WHEREAS, The Illinois Manufacturers' Association will be
inducting the 3rd class into the Illinois Manufacturing Hall
of Fame on June 25, 2026; and
WHEREAS, The 12 inductees, which include people, products,
and companies, have made a substantial and indelible impact on
manufacturing in Illinois; and
WHEREAS, The 12 inductees in the 2026 Illinois
Manufacturing Hall of Fame represent a cross section of more
than 200 years of Illinois manufacturing, which includes
iconic products that have revolutionized daily life, companies
that have transformed our society, and visionary leaders who
dedicated themselves to building a brighter tomorrow; and
WHEREAS, The 12 inductees in the 2026 Illinois
Manufacturing Hall of Fame include:
(1) Joseph F. Glidden, an Illinois businessman and
farmer, is known as the "Father of Barbed Wire" who put
DeKalb and Illinois on the map with his invention that
"fenced the west"; he later donated 63 acres of his
homestead as a site for Northern Illinois State Normal
School that later became Northern Illinois University;
(2) Rick Delawder, president of SWD Inc., leads a
second-generation, family-owned metal finishing, coating,

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and fastener-sorting facility in Addison with a commitment
to excellence that defines the best of American
manufacturing; his industry leadership spans far beyond
his own company; he has served as board president of both
the National Association for Surface Finishing and the
Chicago Metal Finishers Institute and chaired the Illinois
Manufacturers' Association Board of Directors from
2017-2019;
(3) Don Welge, over six decades, transformed Gilster
Milling Co., a small family-owned flour mill, into
Gilster-Mary Lee, a private label food manufacturing
powerhouse; an eternal optimist and passionate advocate
for southern Illinois, he was a philanthropic civic leader
who worked on a range of projects from those supporting
local communities and historic preservation to the
nation's food supply chain security;
(4) Marsha Serlin, founder of United Scrap Metal, an
award-winning leader in recycling solutions, is a pioneer
and sustainability trailblazer; she founded the company in
1978 with $200 and a rented truck, growing it into one of
the largest recyclers in the United States, and is proud
to employ more than 750 team members throughout eleven
operations in nine states; she is dedicated to giving back
to the community and leads her team based on the mission of
making a positive impact in the lives of others;
(5) White House China, produced by Pickard China in

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Antioch since 1893, is a high-quality, durable porcelain
with gold accents and has been used by American
presidents, including the pattern "Kailua Blue" that was
used by President Barack Obama and the Magnolia Service
(designed by Anna Weatherly) used by President George W.
Bush that featured a green basket-weave pattern and gold
eagle; the china is also used on Air Force One and in
American Embassies across the world;
(6) Eli's Cheesecake was started in 1940 when Eli
Schulman found a foreclosure sign on the door of his
favorite coffee shop; armed with little more than a
twinkle in his eye and his mother's recipes, he bought the
place, and the rest is history; 40 years and a few
restaurants later, he declared cheesecake to be the
signature dessert at the legendary Eli's The Place For
Steak; it was there that he created Chicago Style
Cheesecake, thanks to his unconventional fast and hot
baking method with no water bath; the delicious result was
a cheesecake loved for its beautiful caramelization,
creamy texture, and all-butter shortbread cookie crust; it
debuted at the first Taste of Chicago in 1980, becoming
the festival's most popular dessert and soon earning the
reputation of Chicago food icon; Eli's Cheesecake is
proudly made at its third-generation bakery in Chicago;
(7) NERDS Gummy Clusters, launched in 2020 by Ferrara
Candy Company, is an innovative multi-textural candy that

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became an immediate sensation growing into one of the most
recognizable and best-selling global brands; this popular
candy features a sweet, fruity gummy center covered in
iconic tangy, crunchy NERDS, creating a mix of textures
and flavors in a single bite;
(8) Spray Paint, contained in a sealed, pressurized
can, is released when a valve button is pushed; in 1949,
Edward H. Seymour from Seymour of Sycamore added paint to
existing spray can technology and patented the product
that delivers a smooth, even coat of paint with more than
400 million cans produced annually in the United States;
(9) Lapham-Hickey Steel, founded in 1926 in Chicago,
is a 4th generation family-owned and family-operated steel
service center headquartered in Bedford Park with 13
locations and 1,000 teammates; for a century, it has
supplied a wide variety of high-quality steel products,
supporting the manufacturing base and critical industries
throughout Illinois, the Midwest, and North America;
(10) S&C Electric Company, established in 1911,
transformed electricity distribution with the invention of
the Liquid Power Fuse, leading a new era of safer power
delivery; today, the company continues to empower people
to transform the grid by building on its legacy of
technology leadership to deliver innovative solutions for
a safer, more reliable, and more resilient electrical
grid;

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(11) Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), headquartered in
Chicago, is an essential global agricultural supply chain
manager, processor, and premier human and animal nutrition
provider; a cutting-edge innovator, it is a leader in
business-driven sustainability efforts that support a
strong agricultural sector, resilient supply chains, and a
vast and growing bioeconomy; and
(12) C. H. Hanson & Co., founded in 1866 in Chicago by
Christian Henry Hanson, is a fifth-generation,
family-owned company that has a range of tools to serve
construction, plumbing, and metalworking sectors; and
WHEREAS, Illinois manufactures have played a key role in
the first 250 years of America and will continue to do so in
the future; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate the
2026 inductees to the Illinois Manufacturing Hall of Fame and
commend them for their historic and positive impact on
Illinois and the United States, and we extend our gratitude
for their continued commitment to building a brighter future
for all Americans; and be it further
RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
presented to the Illinois Manufacturers' Association and the

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2026 inductees to the Illinois Manufacturing Hall of Fame as a
token of our esteem and respect.