Former longtime Illinois Senate President Philip J. Rock has died at age 78. Rock's family released a statement saying the Oak Park Democrat died early Friday. No details were released.
Rock spent 14 of his 22 years in the Senate as its presiding officer, from 1979 to 1993. The Chicago native was appointed chairman of the Illinois Board of Higher Education in 1999. Former Illinois Congressman Terry Bruce of Olney served with Rock in the state Legislature.
Bruce said Friday that Rock was influential not only as Senate leader but as an education expert and a student of Illinois politics. Rock was a government attorney before he was elected to the Senate in 1970. Rock and his wife, Sheila, whom he married in 1964, had four children.
