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By Scanews staff
If a picture says a thousand words, you can learn a lot about Jim Ryan by picturing his announcement for Governor last August.
There was no pomp and circumstance -- just a public servant standing with his family and closest friends in front of his boyhood home.
At his announcement he said it was here that his parents shaped his values and taught him the difference between right and wrong and how he learned the importance of faith and family; the value of education, hard work, honesty and personal responsibility.
Jim Ryan was born to his parents Edward and Elissa on February 21, 1946 in Chicago.
Edward was an Irish American home builder and Elissa was a homemaker who immigrated from Italy as a child.
Jim and his two younger sisters, Maria and Peggy, grew up in the home their father built in Villa Park.
Ryan attended a local Catholic high school, St. Procopius Academy (now Benet Academy).
He graduated from Illinois Benedictine College (now Benedictine University) in 1968, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. IIn 1971, he received his law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Ryan and his wife Marie, his high school sweetheart and wife of 33 years, have six children, John, Jim, Matt, Amy, Patrick and Anne Marie, who is deceased.
The Ryans also have five grandchildren, Caitlyn, Joseph, Grace, Sarah and Emma.
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