GOV. GEORGE H. RYAN
Governor Ryan, born in February 1934, served as Illinois' secretary of state for eight years (1991-1999) and lieutenant governor for eight years (1983-91). He also had an accomplished 10-year legislative career (1973-1983).
A lifelong resident of Kankakee and a pharmacist, Ryan has been a leader on both the local and state level. He began his political career as a member and later chairman of the Kankakee County Board. He was elected to the Illinois House in 1972 and re-elected four times. During that tenure, he served two terms as House Republican leader and one term as Speaker of the House (1981-1983).
In January of 2000, after 13 people sentenced to death row were found to have been wrongfully convicted, Gov. Ryan took the unprecedented step of declaring a moratorium on executions and established a commission to comprehensibly review the system of capital punishment. Gov. Ryan said, "Until I can be sure, with moral certainty, that no innocent man or woman is facing a lethal injection, no one will meet that fate." Also, the Governor has created a commission to rewrite the state's outdated and confusing criminal code.
As a result of Gov. Ryan's commitment to public service and his legislative accomplishments, he has been named 'Man of the Year' and received various other awards by numerous organizations including; the City Club of Chicago, the Veterans Leadership Program, Arab-American Business and Professional Association, Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, American Associates Ben Gurion University, Illinois Commission Against Handgun Violence and Coalition Unity Community Action-ORTC.
Ryan is a graduate of Kankakee public schools, served with the U.S. Army in Korea and, following his discharge, obtained a bachelor's degree in pharmacy from Ferris State College in Big Rapids, Michigan. After 42 years of family ownership, the Ryan pharmacies were sold in 1990.
George and Lura Lynn Ryan are the parents of a son and five daughters, including triplets. They have fourteen grandchildren.
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