MEMORIAL RESOLUTION FOR BOARD MEETING OF JULY 10, 2014
Title
MEMORIAL RESOLUTION sponsored by the Board of Commissioners extending sympathy and condolences to the family of Ayoub Talhami (As Revised)
Body
WHEREAS, Ayoub Yousef Talhami was born on December 20, 1928 in Shefa 'Amr, Palestine; and
WHEREAS, in 1948, Mr. Talhami graduated from the elite Arab College in Jerusalem, a civil servant training school during the British Mandate government; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Talhami worked in Libya from 1951 to 1955 as an English teacher in the pubic schools, and then as a purchasing agent at the American Wheelus Airbase; and
WHEREAS, after earning a Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology in 1960, Mr. Talhami went on to receive his Master's in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Talhami worked as a city engineer in Green Bay, Wisconsin for two years, then began work for the city of Racine in 1964; and
WHEREAS, a job in land development for Greengard, Inc. moved Mr. Talhami to Chicago; and
WHEREAS, in 1968, Mr. Talhami joined the Engineering Department of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District where he was responsible for the design of several flood-control projects, eventually working his way up to becoming Assistant Chief Engineer, the position he held until his retirement in 1997; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Talhami received many honors for his dedication to the Engineering profession, including his election as head of the Chicago chapter of the Illinois Engineering Society; recognition by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Illinois Office of Water Resources for promoting inter-agency cooperation on the Thornton Reservoir; his receipt of the Civil Engineer of the Year in 1991 by the American Society of Civil Engineers; and the hard-earned recognition for his twenty-nine years of service in promoting flood-control by the State of Illinois Office of Water Resources; and
WHEREAS, as an organizer and activist, Mr. Talhami made another career of building unity in the Arab American community of Chicagoland, by guiding and advising dozens of projects over the years; and
WHEREAS, his leadership was demonstrated in his many roles, including as a member (and eventually head) of the Board of Directors of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, as one of the founders of The Chicago Mayor's Advisory Council on Arab Affairs and with the Arab-American Association of Engineers and Architects; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Talhami is survived by his wife of 52 years, Ghada; his three children, Yousef, Lamees and Ghassan; his brother and sister in Palestine; and a host of family and friends; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Board of Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, on behalf of ourselves and staff, extend our sympathy and condolences to the family of Ayoub Yousef Talhami; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this Resolution be spread upon the permanent Record of Proceedings of the Board of Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, and that a copy of same, suitably engrossed, be presented to the family of Ayoub Yousef Talhami.
Dated: July 10, 2014
Approved: KATHLEEN THERESE MEANY, President; BARBARA J. MCGOWAN, Vice-President; MARIYANA T. SPYROPOULOS, Chairman, Committee on Finance; MICHAEL A. ALVAREZ; FRANK AVILA; CYNTHIA M. SANTOS; DEBRA SHORE; KARI K. STEELE; PATRICK D. THOMPSON, Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
Approved as to Form and Legality: Ronald M. Hill, General Counsel