Sylvester O'Neal Rhem (November 19, 1929 – June 14, 2007) was an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

police officer and politician in Illinois. Rhem was born in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and went to the Chicago public schools. He graduated from Englewood High School in 1948. He received his bachelor's degree in public administration from

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

. He then worked as a police officer for the

Chicago Police Department The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the primary law enforcement agency of the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, under the jurisdiction of the Chicago City Council. It is the second-largest Law enforcement in the United States#Local, ...

before serving in the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

from 1981 to 1985 as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

.The History Makers-Honorable Sylvester Rhem
/ref>

Personal life

Rhem was

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and a member of the

Knights of Peter Claver The Knights of Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary is an international Catholic fraternal service order. Founded in 1909 by the Josephites and parishioners from Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Mobile, Alabama, it is the largest and o ...

Notes

1929 births 2007 deaths Politicians from Chicago African-American police officers DePaul University alumni African-American state legislators in Illinois Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Englewood Technical Prep Academy alumni African-American Catholics Knights of Peter Claver & Ladies Auxiliary 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American people 20th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly Law enforcement officials from Illinois {{Illinois-Ilrepresentative-Democratic-stub