John J. Nimrod

Who was John J. Nimrod?

John J. Nimrod was an Assyrian, minority rights activist and Illinois state senator.

Born in Chicago, Illinois to Assyrian parents who had emigrated from Iran's northwest Urmiah region, John Nimrod was for three decades a leading international figure actively working for Assyrian survival in the Middle East, cultural and educational advances in American diaspora, and the cause of minorities from Uighurs to Tibetans and Assyrians who remain officially unrepresented in world political fora. He served for many years as a leading figure in UNPO, the world body that presses for the rights of such people, often scattered from their homelands as a result of persecution. He began his public career working in political circles in the northern Chicago suburbs, served as committeeman and Niles Township Supervisor, and later served in the Illinois State Senate from District 4. An early advocate of solar power, he worked to revise the Illinois mental health code as a Republican state senator. He also sponsored a bill to have the pledge of allegiance said in schools every day.