Fifty years after graduating from U of I, and 50 years since marrying his wife, Carole, who also attended U of I, Richard Cline will receive a Chicago Illini of the Year Award.
Cline graduated with highest honors from Illinois, majoring in political science in LAS and minoring in history and philosophy. He went on to make his mark in the business world, but he also left a lasting impression on the U of I with the annual Cline Symposium.
Cline and his wife established the symposium in 1995. It combines a semester-long seminar with the brightest undergraduates in political science, a keynote lecture by a distinguished guest, and a set of events organized around a common theme.
The Cline family also helped to found the Center for the Study of Democratic Governance at the U of I in 2004. The center engages in research, teaching, and public outreach-all with the goal of refining and expanding democracy and inspiring students to re-invigorate civic life in the United States.
Cline is a former CEO of Jewel Companies, Inc., a Chicago-based diversified retailer, and Nicor, Inc., a natural gas distribution and container shipping company. He established Hawthorne Investors shortly after retiring from Nicor in 1995 and has been a member of numerous boards, including the K-Mart Corporation, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and PepsiAmericas, Inc. He also has been the chairman of the U of I Foundation.
