WHEREAS, Sherman Kaplan, veteran broadcast journalist and news anchor at CBS Radio All-News WBBM-AM 780 and WCFS-FM 105.9 has announced his retirement after forty-six years in Chicago radio; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago City Council has been informed of his retirement by Alderman Edward M. Burke; and
WHEREAS, Sherman Kaplan embarked on a distinguished fifty-four-year broadcast career in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1961 where he worked the night shift as a disk jockey nicknamed "Mike Sherman the Night Creature," spinning Top 40 records to WSAI-AM listeners for three years; and
WHEREAS, After a hiatus from radio in order to work for IBM in the sales department, Sherman Kaplan returned to his broadcast career as a news reporter, working for a succession of stations; and
WHEREAS, When informed that WBBM-AM Radio planned to convert its format to all-news and looked to expand its staff, Sherman Kaplan visited the station during a vacation to Chicago in September 1968; and
WHEREAS, In January, 1969, Sherman Kaplan quit his reporting job in Columbus, Ohio to begin work as a general assignment reporter and news anchor at WBBM; and
WHEREAS, Over the next five decades Sherman Kaplan covered the most important breaking local and national news stories of the era, including the resignation of President Richard Nixon, the crash of the CTA Lake Street El, the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, the deaths of Mayor Harold Washington and Mayor Richard J. Daley and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks; and
WHEREAS, Although Sherman Kaplan is best known as the long-time co-host ofthe "Noon Business Hour." He also served as WBBM's restaurant and food critic; and
WHEREAS, In 1977, Sherman Kaplan published in book form the first in a long-running series of reviews titled Chicago's Best Restaurants; and
WHEREAS, As a food critic, Sherman Kaplan was awarded the prestigious "Best Radio Food Program" from the James Beard.Foundation; and
WHEREAS, Sherman Kaplan received many other awards for excellence during his forty-six years in Chicago, including various Associated Press Awards, the International Radio Festival of New York Gold Medal, and several Peter Lisagor Awards presented annually by The Chicago Headline Club; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and the members of the Chicago City Council assembled this twenty-fourth day of September, 2015, do hereby congratulate Sherman Kaplan