[ Search ] [ Legislation ]
[ Home ] [ Back ] [ Bottom ]
91_HR0551
LRB9111156CBcb
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The members of the House were saddened to learn
3 of the recent death of Vernon Morel Rhinehart of Chicago; and
4 WHEREAS, Vernon Rhinehart was born in Kansas City,
5 Kansas, on September 27, 1935, the son of Anna Pearl Pennyman
6 Rhinehart and Thomas A. Rhinehart, Sr.; he was preceded in
7 death by his parents, a brother, Thomas A. Rhinehart, Jr.,
8 and a sister, Melrene Rhinehart Ashford; and
9 WHEREAS, Raised in Chicago, Vernon Rhinehart attended A.
10 O. Sexton Grammar School and Hyde Park High School; he earned
11 his bachelor's degree from Boston University in 1958 and
12 continued to Howard University School of Law, where he
13 received his L.L. B/J.D. in 1966 with additional education
14 from Chicago Teachers College and the University of Chicago;
15 and
16 WHEREAS, He worked in the public sector as a group
17 worker, social worker, and educator; after law school he
18 entered the private sector working at International Harvester
19 (Navistar) as the first African American in Industrial
20 Relations; he also worked for the Brunswick Corporation and
21 the First National Bank of Chicago; he later went into the
22 private practice of law and practiced law for twenty-six
23 years; he also was an adjunct professor of business law at
24 Malcolm X College; and
25 WHEREAS, Mr. Rhinehart belonged to several organizations,
26 including the City Club of Chicago, the American Society of
27 Law & Medicine, the Chicago Urban League, the NAACP, the Cook
28 County Bar Association, the Chicago Association of Black
29 Journalists, the Boston University Alumni Club of Chicago,
30 the Howard University Alumni, the Omicrons, and Alpha Phi
31 Alpha Fraternity; and
-2- LRB9111156CBcb
1 WHEREAS, He was recognized by the Ebony Success Library
2 1,000 Successful Blacks, Who's Who Among Black Americans,
3 1977 Honoree of the League of Black Women, Who's Who in
4 American Law, and the International Who's Who of Contemporary
5 Achievement; and
6 WHEREAS, He worked on many political campaigns, including
7 the late Harold Washington, former Attorney General Roland
8 Burris, State Representative Constance Howard, and his own
9 candidacy for judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County; and
10 WHEREAS, His passing will be deeply felt by his family
11 and friends, especially his wife, Carmen; his mother-in-law,
12 Mae Bridgeforth Melendez Hodge; his sisters-in-law, Donna
13 Hodge, Pamela Melendez, and Billye D. Rhinehart; his
14 brother-in-law, William Stanis Melendez; and his nieces,
15 Rachel Anna Marie Melendez and Jennifer Norris; therefore, be
16 it
17 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
18 NINETY-FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
19 we note with sorrow and regret the death of Vernon Morel
20 Rhinehart and extend our sincere condolences to his family
21 and friends; and be it further
22 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
23 presented to his widow, Carmen Maria Rhinehart.