Political Quotes

“If you have ever attended an Irish wake--and I bet you have--there is a passionate combination of sadness and celebration. In Chicago, such a wake is being held for a good and courageous man. Thomas G. Lyons died last Friday at the age of 75 after a months-long struggle against serious illness. Mr. Lyons served for the last 17 years as chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party. That was only one small chapter in an otherwise long, interesting and amazing life story. As a young man, he served as an Army Ranger and a Chicago police officer. In 1957, he earned a law degree and spent the next several years working first in the Cook County assessor's office, and then in the Illinois Attorneys General office. In 1964, a time of great change, Tom Lyons was elected to represent northwest Chicago in the Illinois General Assembly. The following year, he was tapped to serve in the leadership of a State commission studying the need for a new Illinois State constitution. He later served as vice president of the convention that drafted Illinois's current State constitution.”