On the recordJuly 31, 2013
I am honored today to pay tribute to my friend David Vite on his retirement from the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, IRMA. He spent 35 years with the Illinois retailers, helping businesses across the State of Illinois engage with government and better serve their communities. David has a long history of service. After serving in the Army, he went to college in Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse. This must be where he developed his affinity for the Green Bay Packers. In all of the time David spent in Illinois, he never adopted our very own Chicago Bears. He remains to this day a loyal Packers fan. Early in his career, David became the Executive Director of the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce and oversaw community developments in Woodstock, IL. By 1978, David had joined the Illinois Retail Merchants Association as a field representative. Within 3 years, the Association had promoted him to Vice President of Government Affairs and not long after that, David Vite took over as President. As President, David was determined to help resolve the challenges facing Illinois retailers and at the same time to create opportunities for them. He provided training for his members to help them promote sales. He created a school-to-work training program to help cultivate the next generation of retail leaders. He led an effort to publish a manual to help merchants become more environmentally friendly.…





