Partee, Cecil A., 1921-

Illinois representative (Democrat) from twenty-second and twenty-first districts (1957-1966); Illinois senator from twenty-sixth district (1967-1976). Senate President Pro Tempore (1971-1973), Minority Leader (1974-1975), and Majority Leader and first black elected as President of the Illinois Senate (1975-1976).

Cecil Armillo Partee (1921-1994) was the first African American president of the Illinois State Senate and first African American state's attorney for Cook County, Illinois. Born in Blytheville, Arkansas, Partee came to Chicago in 1944. After graduating from Northwestern University Law School he worked in the law offices of Joseph Clayton before serving as an assistant state's attorney in the fraud and complaint division. In 1956, he was elected to the Illinois General Assembly where he served five terms. Partee sat on a special House committee on reapportionment, was chairman of the interim legislative committee that set up the Illinois Fair Employment Practices Commission, was chairman of the House Elections Committee, and helped draft the Illinois Criminal Code. In 1966, Partee was elected to the Illinois State Senate, becoming president pro-tempore in 1971, majority leader in 1973, and president of the Senate in 1975. Partee was the first African American since Reconstruction to head a state legislature. A strong supporter of Mayor Richard J. Daley, Partee became Committeeman for the 20th Ward in Chicago in 1972. His help would later be influential in the election of Harold Washington for state representative. Partee was elected commissioner for the Chicago Department of Human Services in 1977 and city treasurer in 1979. In 1984, he was elected Vice Chairman of the Democratic Committee of Cook County. After Richard M. Daley's election to mayor in 1989, Partee replaced him as Cook County State's Attorney, although he lost the 1990 election. Partee received four honorary degrees and numerous awards and honors during his lifetime. He died of lung cancer in 1994.