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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
COMMEMORATING THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF THE HONORABLE DONALD PERILLE
WHEREAS, Don Perille, longtime Skokie Village Trustee and Plan Commission Chairman whose vision and wisdom helped shape the Village of Skokie died on September 12, 2016 at the age of 88 leaving behind family, countless friends and a community profoundly enriched for having known him; and
WHEREAS, Don Perille served as chairman of the Skokie Plan Commission during some of the most turbulent times in the history of the Commission and in the village of Skokie. With him at the helm guiding the process, Skokie transitioned from being a farming community into the modern, economically thriving, multicultural municipality it is today. His term was notable as much as for its impact on the community as for its length; he joined the Plan Commission as a young man in his 30s and remained in Skokie government for over half a century. In all, Perille spent the first 28 years on the Plan Commission, 25 of them as chairman, and the last 24 years as a village trustee; and
WHEREAS, as Plan Commission Chairman, Don Perille came up with a new way to measure the height of a building, a pyramid zoning formula that became widely known as "the Perille concept." This concept resulted in the charming and often imitated nature of the present day Old Orchard Mall. In his later years on the Village Board, he chaired the Landlord Tenant Advisory Committee and is credited with bringing together people with very polarized views about regulating rental housing in Skokie; and
WHEREAS, Don Perille represented the highest qualities of public service, citizenship and humanity through his decades of work on behalf of all of the people of Skokie. He will long be remembered for reinvigorating Westfield Old Orchard, crafting the village's comprehensive flood control program, the relocation of the Illinois Holocaust Museum from its cramped storefront home into its verdant location near the Fore...
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