Iconic Insurance Owner Alonzo Perkins Passes
By Chinta Strausberg
Funeral services for insurance/construction icon Alonzo Perkins who died Friday, May 15, 2015, at the St. James Hospital after a long illness were Thursday, May 21, 2015, at the Brookins Funeral Home, 9315 South Ashland, Chicago, IL.
Mr. Perkins was born the second of seven children on Thursday, June 14, 1934 in Drew, Mississippi to the parents of William and Mary Perkins. The couple moved from Mississippi to Chicago’s Bronzeville community in 1942.
A student at Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Perkins always had an entrepreneurial spirit. At the age of 16, he, along with his childhood friend, Zishan Evans, opened a record store. Perkins also worked at the Lee Packing Company and was selected as one of their youngest union stewards at the age of 19.
In 1953, Persons married his childhood sweetheart, Faith Evans, and to that union bore three sons, Gregory, David and Michael. His wife of 43-years passed on October 13, 1996.
In the early 1960’s, Perkins founded the Central Premium Insurance Agency located on the West Side of Chicago. According to former Cook County Board of Review Comm. Robert Shaw who grew up on the West Side, “Al was one of the first African American businessman in the 24th Ward. He has always been a stalwart in the forefront of the upward mobility of black people.”
Always wanting to do more for the community, Mr. Perkins opened a grocery store at 24th and State Streets and a mini mall, and in the early 1970’s he started the Rehabilitation Construction and Custom Construction Company.
Former Illinois Senator Howard Brookins, Sr., who has personally known Mr. Perkins for the past 15-years, said, “I am very disturbed, by his death. He was a friend. We had coffee every week here (at Josephine’s Cooking Restaurant) and great social, political and economic discussions. I will miss him deeply.”
Another friend, businessman Herbert Hedgeman, said, “He has been my friend for over 40-years. I love him like a brother, and he will be surely missed. He was a friend and business associate.”
Perkins was also a member of the WE CAN, INC. Committee, a group of African American successful businessmen who worked tirelessly to get the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to obey a 1991 Illinois law mandating the teaching of African American history.
When questioned on November 12, 2012, by WE CAN INC. Committee media director, Chinta Strausberg if she would obey the 1991 law, a stunned newly appointed CPS/CEO Dr. Barbara Byrd-Bennett agreed and black history was incorporated into the CPS curriculum in 2014.
Florence Cox, president of the WE CAN, INC. Committee, said, “Mr. Perkins was a great humanitarian who loved his people and one who was truly interested in black youth learning their history. He always said if you don’t know where you came from, you would never get to where you want to go.
“We appreciated his support of the organization, his loyalty to his people and his love of learning for the children. To that end, he worked diligently with us in assisting that the law that was passed in 1991 would be fully implement into the curriculum as mandated by law,” said Cox.
“We will miss his guidance, but we will always know his spirit will be with us as a people and an organization and we hold him dear to our hearts for that,” Cox stated.
Mr. Perkins was a part of this Black history movement. He had a passion for teaching African American youth their history. He felt if they knew from whence they come and who they are they would not engage in violence or other criminal behavior.
Perkins also believed in helping other African American businessmen and often invested his personal funds to help younger black businessmen achieve their goals.
Mr. Perkins leaves to mourn three sons, Gregory, Michael and Davis, a sister, Sylvia, a brother, Eugene, five grandchildren: Raven, Tamara, David, Gregory Jr., and Ashley, a nephews, William, Alonzo, D’Andre and George Jr., nieces: David, Deborah, Diana, Queenie, Cherol, Sheena, Trina, Dorothy and a host of friends and relatives.
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