Record #: R2015-524   
Type: Resolution Status: Adopted
Intro date: 6/17/2015 Current Controlling Legislative Body:
Final action: 6/17/2015
Title: Congratulations extended to Lester Crown for community service and declaration of June 27, 2015 as "Lester Crown Day" in Chicago
Sponsors: Burke, Edward M., Mendoza, Susana A.
Attachments: 1. R2015-524.pdf

RESOLUTION

 

 

WHEREAS, Lester Crown, a widely renowned business leader and philanthropist, celebrated the joyful occasion of his 90th Birthday on June 7, 2015; and

 

WHEREAS, The Chicago City Council has been informed of this event by Alderman Edward M. Burke and City Clerk Susana Mendoza; and

 

WHEREAS, Lester Crown's myriad of contributions to our City have helped to shape Chicago and inspire its people; and

 

WHEREAS, Lester Crown has been praised by Crain's Chicago Business as "the most civically engaged Chicago business figure of his generation"; and

 

WHEREAS, Raised in Evanston, Lester Crown is the son of the late Chicago financier Henry Crown, who with his two brothers founded Material Service, a construction industry supply company, in 1919; and

 

WHEREAS, Lester Crown's introduction to the family business came early when he began working summers in the Material Service quarry; and

 

WHEREAS, Lester Crown graduated from Evanston Township High School and earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Northwestern University and his master's degree in business administration from Harvard University; and

 

WHEREAS, After working for Andrews Steel in Newport, Kentucky and Medusa Portland Cement in Cleveland, Lester Crown joined Material Service in 1950; and

 

WHEREAS, Also in that same year while vacationing in Boca Raton, Florida, Lester Crown first met Renee Schine, the love of his life, at the tennis court; and

 

WHEREAS, The couple wed in less than a year and were blessed with their four children, Susan, Daniel, Sara and Janet; and

 

WHEREAS, 1951 the Crowns purchased the Empire State Building and in 1956 Lester Crown was named President of Marblehead Lime and Royal Crown Cola; and

 

WHEREAS, In 1959 Material Service was purchased by General Dynamics and in 1970 Lester Crown was named President of the company; and

 

 

WHEREAS, An individual of unparalleled accomplishment and dedication to the City of Chicago, Lester Crown played an influential role in championing the expansion of O'Hare International Airport and the construction of a new Cook County Hospital; and

 

WHEREAS, In recognition of his decade-long service as Chairman of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Lester Crown was honored on June 10, 2015, at the Global Leadership Awards dinner "for his extraordinary contributions to the city, the nation and the world and for his visionary leadership"; and

 

WHEREAS, Lester Crown is an individual who is exceedingly worthy of our great admiration and esteem; now, therefore

 

BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and the members of the Chicago City Council, assembled this seventeenth day of June, 2015, do hereby designate June 27, 2015, as Lester Crown Day throughout the City and do hereby declare that Lester Crown shall be officially recognized as a Chicago Civic Treasure; and

presented to Lester Crown

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be