Another Laureate in the firm, Thomas P. Sullivan, added that he was "an extraordinary man, a loyal friend, a great intellect, teacher and judge. He will be remembered fondly, and missed deeply, by all those who were privileged to know him."
During his retirement in Florida, where he was admitted to practice in 1992, Mr. Marshall continued to offer his legal talent in representing the poor. He earned a Pro Bono Award from the local bar association in Volusia County.
Among other honors that Mr. Marshall received are the Justice John Paul Stevens Award from the CBA, the Edwin Rothschild Award from the ACLU, the Freedom Award from The John Marshall Law School, and the Lifetime Distinguished Service Award from the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.
He was recognized as a Distinguished Judge by the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and he received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Denison University. A chair at the University of Illinois College of Law was endowed in his honor in 2000.
Retired appellate justice R. Eugene Pincham wrote in support of Mr. Marshall's nomination as a Laureate that he "represented the epitome of what a judge ought to be. He was impeccably honest, eminently fair, compassionate, firm, courteous and kind, and with all that, he was a warm, considerate human being."
Survivors include a son, Prentice H. Marshall Jr. of Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood.
Deaths of several jurists are reported
The deaths of six former members of the Illinois judiciary and one sitting jurist were announced during the past two months.
Eldon Durr
Retired Madison County judge Eldon Wendell Durr died April 23 at age 66, when the single-engine airplane he built crashed near Memphis, Tenn., during a thunderstorm. He was a resident of Diamondhead, Miss., off a runway near the Gulf of Mexico.
A 1961 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law who was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1962, Mr. Durr practiced in Edwardsville and was Troy city attorney. He was a delegate to the Illinois Constitutional Convention of 1970 and a past president of the Edwardsville YMCA board.
Mr. Durr was appointed an associate judge of the 3rd Circuit in 1983, and he retired in 1999. He was a pilot for Wings of Hope.
Wayne Dyer
Retired Kankakee County judge Wayne P. Dyer died May 5 at age 86 in Riverside Medical Center. He was the fourth generation of his family to practice law and a past president of the Kankakee County Bar Association.
A 1942 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, Mr. Dyer was appointed an associate judge of the 21st Circuit in 1968, and he became a circuit judge in 1971 under the new constitution.
Mr. Dyer was the son of former Kankakee County state's attorney Wayne H. Dyer, the grandson of Daniel H. Paddock, and the great-grandson of John W. Paddock, who began the Kankakee law practice in 1853.
Robert Hunt
Retired judge Robert E. Hunt of Peoria died May 1 at age 87 in his home. A 1941 graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School, he practiced briefly with his father, George W. Hunt, before joining the Army during World War II.
Mr. Hunt served four years in the Counter-Intelligence Corps and spent seven years as a captain in the reserves. After the war, he was a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clyde E. Stone for two years before returning to private practice.
Elected a probate judge in 1961, Mr. Hunt became a 10th Circuit judge in 1968. He was the downstate court representative on the Illinois Courts Commission from 1976 to 1981.
Mr. Hunt retired in 1982 to join the law firm of Goldsworthy, Fifield & Hasselberg, but was recalled to the bench in 1989. He retired again in 1990.
A former member of the Peoria City Planning Commission, Mr. Hunt was a founder of the Youth Farm and Court Counseling Services and a director of Junior Achievement. He was named Peoria County Bar Pro Bono Attorney of the Year in 1989.
Robert Mackey
Retired Cook County judge Robert G. Mackey died May 7 at age 83 of heart failure in the Meadowbrook Manor Nursing Home, Naperville.
A veteran of Navy service during World War II, Mr. Mackey received four battle stars and was a supply officer aboard the USS Missouri when the surrender of Japan was negotiated. After the war, he entered the Loyola University School of Law and graduated in 1949.
After stints as an assistant attorney, assistant Cook County state's attorney and assistant Chicago corporation counsel, Mr. Mackey was appointed an associate judge in 1974 and subsequently elected. He failed to gain retention in 1990.
Six times in 10 years, he received the Judicial Performance Award from the Chicago Alumni chapter of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity for tryibg the most Law Division cases to verdict.
A past president of Northwestern University's N Men's Club for alumni athletes, Mr. Mackey received a Distinguished American Award in 1990 from the Chicago Metro chapter of the National Football Foundation.
Lester McCurrie
Retired Cook County judge Lester D. McCurrie died in May in his Palos Park home of a lung tumor a day before his 74th birthday. A 1963 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, he had been a Chicago police lieutenant during his studies.
An assistant Cook County state's attorney for two years, Mr. McCurrie was in private practice until he was elected to the circuit court in 1981. He was assigned to the 5th Municipal District in Bridgeview when he retired in 1991. He was special counsel to the mayor of Alsip.
A past president of St. Catherine of Alexandria Holy Name Society and Pow-R Sertoma, Mr. McCurrie was named Man of the Year by the Men of Tolentine.
Thomas Smoker
Associate Judge Thomas A. Smoker of the 19th Circuit, a Lake Forest resident, died May 10 at age 54 of lung cancer in Lake Forest Hospital. Although he was diagnosed in 2001, he had continued on the bench until recently.
A 1974 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, Mr. Smoker practiced in Schiller Park until he was named Lake County public defender in 1976. He was a Waukegan city prosecutor from 1977 to 1980 and also had a private practice.
He was a partner in Walter & Smoker, which subsequently became Walter, Smoker & Waldeck in 1984, Smoker & Starck in 1985, and Thomas R. Smoker & Associates in 1988.
Mr. Smoker was appointed to the bench in 1997. He was a founder of the Christian Legal Fellowship of Lake County.
C. Glenn Stevens
Retired St. Clair County associate judge C. Glenn Stevens died May 18 at age 63 in Belleville Memorial Hospital. Admitted to the Illinois bar in 1966, he practiced previously with Pope & Driemeyer.
Mr. Stevens was appointed to the 20th Circuit bench in 1978, and he retired in 1996 after a stress-related illness caused seizures that kept him from the courthouse for three weeks in 1995.
Brown v. Board Commission conducted program May 17
A program commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education opinion was broadcast live from Governors State University on May 17.
The sponsor was the Illinois Commission on the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, which was created late last year by unanimous votes in the Illinois Senate and House of Representatives.
The commission was charged with marking the anniversary with an appropriate ceremony, and reporting on its activities and accomplishments to the General Assembly and governor by June 30, 2005.
Noting that the historic decision on May 17, 1954, ruled that public education is subject to equal protection provisions of the Constitution, the legislation emphasized the need for quality education as a gateway to opportunity and a fundamental goal of government.
It recognized the culmination of 58 years of effort preceding the Brown decision to achieve equal justice and effect positive changes through peaceful, lawful means.
Chief co-sponsors of Senate Joint Resolution 0040 were Senate President Emil Jones Jr. and Senators Jacqueline Y. Collins and Donne E. Trotter. Chief co-sponsors in the House were Speaker Michael J. Madigan and Representatives Calvin L. Giles, Mary E. Flowers and Monique D. Davis.
Jones and Madigan are co-chairs of the commission. Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley are honorary chairs, and Cook County Judge Arnette R. Hubbard is a vice chair.
Other lawyers on the commission are Frank Clark of ComEd, Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans, James D. Montgomery, Jay Robert Pritzker and former governor James R. Thompson of Winston & Strawn.
The commission's Illinois Council of Advisors includes attorneys Peter Alexander, Neil Bluhm, Ertharin Cousin, Gary Fresen, Carrie Hightman, Julieanna Richardson, Larry Rogers Sr., Furmin Sessoms and Wenona Whitfield.
The commission will continue to identify available human and documentary resources for use by educational, civic and social organizations and institutions to effectively share in the spread of democratic principles.
It will encourage participation through essays, creative arts, lectures, original research, community projects and other activities to foster personal commitment to democracy, and will provide adaptable program models for statewide use.
Legislative info, courtesy of ISBA
The ISBA uses the Internet to provide timely legislative information to members in three ways.
E-mail updates. Our e-mail Legislative Alert service delivers occasional bulletins about important issues and breaking news from our legislative affairs department. ISBA members can sign up at <http:// www.isba.org/Legislative/ legislativealert.asp>.
Illinois Legislative Info page. The legislative info Web page, found at <http://www. isba.org/Legislative>, links to a variety of valuable legislation-oriented Internet resources. For example, ISBA members and nonmembers alike can link to Illinois bills, public acts, and the complete Illinois Compiled Statutes, all courtesy of the Illinois General Assembly - and all free of charge. There's also a link to the U.S. Code and the excellent Thomas federal legislative information service, which offers bill status and related information, and to many other legislation guides and information sources.
Online publications. Legislation related articles that appear in the ISBA Bar News (including the "Capitol Chronicle"), Illinois Bar Journal and ISBA section newsletters are archived and searchable on the ISBA Web (newsletters are available to section members only). Just click on the link to the publication in question from the maroon navigation bar at <www.isba.org>.
Director of Legislative Affairs
The General Assembly is standing at ease until its leaders finish a budget for the members to approve. This is a quick summary of some of the legislative action in the last several weeks.
FOIA. House Bill 956 (Currie, D-Chicago; Cullerton, D-Chicago) amends the Freedom of Information Act to create a 60-day statute of limitation to appeal for judicial relief from the written denial of FOIA request. House Bill 956 has an immediate effective date and has passed both chambers, but the Illinois Press Association will be asking the Governor to veto or amendatorily veto it.
Medical malpractice. Senate Bill 2241 restricts juries from awarding more than $750,000 in non-economic damages to each injured patient for negligence by a hospital and no more than $500,000 for negligence by a physician. It has been re-referred to House Rules Committee after adoption of House Amendment No. 4 (Winters, R-Rockford).
House Bill 4847 (Haine, D-Alton) is the Illinois State Medical Society's bill to resolve the problems with higher malpractice premiums and access to health care in the rural areas. It is a sweeping bill with numerous changes that includes the following: (1) If a physician carries professional liability insurance coverage with at least $1 million per person and $3 million per occurrence, the plaintiff may not recover anything else unless there are corporate assets available to attach. Although drafted to protect a physician's personal assets, it may work as a cap on economic damages as well. (2) Makes many legislative findings that blame the civil justice system for this health care crisis. (3) Adopts some of the 1995 tort reform provisions for healing art malpractice cases that were part of PA 89-7 that was struck down in Best v. Taylor Machine Works. (4) Restricts who can sign a Sec. 2-622 affidavit of merit against a health care provider and requires that a person must meet the minimum expert witness requirements under Sec. 8-2501 before he or she can sign an affidavit of merit against an individual health care provider. Section 8-2501 is also made more restrictive. (5) Prohibits a court in all civil actions from extending the six-months window for adding a defendant under the respondents in discovery statute unless for a (a) failure or refusal on the part of the respondent to comply with timely filed discovery; or (b) withdrawal of plaintiff's counsel. Regardless, only one extension from the original six-month period may be granted for up to 90 days at the discretion of the court. (6) Extends the Medical Practice Act from its current sunset of Jan. 1, 2007 until Jan. 1, 2015. (7) It has an immediate effective date. House Bill 4847 has passed the Senate on a 47-9-0 vote and is on the House concurrence calendar.
Sex offenders. House Bill 7057 (Richard Bradley, D-Chicago; Harmon, D-Oak Park) makes the following changes for sex crime prosecutions: (1) Eliminates the requirement that an evaluation of a person to determine whether he or she is a sexually violent person must be by an evaluator approved by the Sex Offender Management Board and conducted in conformance with the standards developed under its enabling Act. (2) Eliminates the requirement that a presentence report must be made for felony sex offenders who are not being considered for probation. (3) Provides that a presentence report for an illegal sexual act perpetrated upon a victim or an offense determined by the court or the probation department to be sexually motivated must be filed of record with the court within 60 (now, 30) days of a verdict or finding of guilty. (4) Provides that these offenders must be sentenced within 65 (now, 45) days of a verdict or finding of guilt for the offense. Passed both chambers.
It's been said. . .
"He viewed judge on the federal bench as the second best job in the world. Commissioner of baseball was the first."
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly, describing the late Prentice Marshall, for whom Kennelly had clerked. Marshall (see obituary on page 37) had been interviewed for the job of Commissioner
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"There's a change in attitudes toward juveniles. It's kind of a pendulum shift from 15 years ago when the attitude was 'Lock 'em up.'"