A 1942 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, Mr. Kunce was a special FBI agent during World War II. He practiced in Chicago and Jackson County until his election in 1952 as a county judge. He became an associate judge in 1962 and was elected to the 1st Circuit Court in 1970.
Mr. Kunce was assigned to the 5th District Appellate Court in 1978 to replace retired justice Richard Carter. He was succeeded a year by Dorothy W. Spomer and practiced in Carbondale until he retired in 1999.
A past president of the Illinois Circuit and Appellate Judges Association, he was special counsel and an investigator for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission from 1981 to 1989.
Mr. Kunce was a founding member of Friends of Touch of Nature, a pioneer residential camping facility for disabled and disadvantaged individuals such as his son, who had Down's syndrome. An abandoned farmhouse and pup tents were used for quarters in what was the Little Grassy Lake Recreation Area.
He also was a founder of a county workshop for the mentally handicapped and past president of the Egyptian Association, which funded similar organizations throughout Southern Illinois.
Mr. Kunce served on the advisory boards of the Department of Children and Family Services and St. Joseph Memorial Hospital, and the boards of the YMCA, the Huber Foundation and the State Council for Retarded Children. He was a past president of the Rotary Club and an exalted rule of the Elks.
July 17, 1997, was celebrated in Murphysboro as Peyton H. Kunce Day for his years of dedicated service to people with disabilities.
Rosalind Burbank
Retired Chicago attorney Rosalind A. Burbank died June 6 at age 60 of cancer in her home. She was a 1967 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law.
Miss Burbank prepared pleadings for the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation for a year before working on bankruptcy cases for two years with the U.S. Trustee Program. She then joined Winston & Strawn in business reorganizations and property law.
In 1987, Miss Burbank joined Waste Management, where she practiced in mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. She retired in 1998 after the company's offices were relocated in Houston after the merger with USA Waste Services. She later participated in international transaction negotiations for Motorola on a temporary basis.
Miss Burbank served on the boards of the Midwest Women's Center and the Chicago Children's Museum.
Laurence Carton
Retired Chicago attorney Laurence A. Carton, who established the labor law practice at Gardner, Carton & Douglas, died July 1 at age 85 of Alzheimer's disease in his Lake Forest home.
A 1947 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Mr. Carton was commander of a Navy minesweeper in the Pacific during World War II.
He was a trustee of the Morton Arboretum, Shedd Aquarium and Presbyterian Homes, past board president of the Lake Forest Place retirement community, and a governing life member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Michael Cohen
Chicago attorney Michael S. Cohen, a member of the ISBA Family Law Section Council from 1993 to 2001 and its chair in 1999-2000, died June 13 at age 50 of lymphoma. A moment of silence was observed at the beginning of a Family Law Section seminar last month during the ISBA Annual Meeting.
A partner in Kalcheim, Schatz & Berger since 1986, Mr. Cohen was a 1979 graduate of the Chicago-Kent College of Law. He was an assistant Cook County state's attorney before joining Beerman, Swerdlove, Woloshin, Barezky, Becker, Genin & London.
Mr. Cohen was a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, a member of its national board of governors since 2001 and an Illinois chapter board member. He served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Family Law.
Patrick Daly
Palos Heights attorney Patrick F. Daly, a resident of Orland Park, died June 22 at age 61 in a Michigan hospital after a stroke in his summer home at Sister Lakes.
A 1968 graduate of the Northwestern University College of Law who was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1969, and a certified public accountant, Mr. Daly had served on the ISBA Business Advice and Financial Planning Section Council since 1998.
The attorney for the Oak Lawn Police and Fire Commission since 1993, he was president of the South Suburban Estate Planning Council from 1997 to 2000. He was chair of the St. Linus Catholic Church parish council and its "Way Off Broadway" benefit productions.
Wayne Flanigan
Waukegan attorney Wayne B. Flanigan, who was president of the Lake County Bar Association in 2001-02 (see photo on this page), died June 26 at age 64. He was a 1964 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law.
Mr. Flanigan practiced with Chicago Title and Trust Co. for a year serving as an assistant Lake County state's attorney from 1965 to 1967. He also was a part-time assistant public defender in addition to his private practice.
A recipient of the Benedict Ori Award for contributions to law enforcement as a former prosecutor, Mr. Flanigan also was honored for lengthy service in the Lake County Bar Volunteer Lawyers Program.
He participated in county programs on mediation, arbitration, child advocacy, conflict resolution, divorce mediation and parenting.
George Gorski
Retired lawyer and accountant George Frank Gorski, a Palatine resident, died June 26 at age 65 of cancer in his home. A 1963 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, he was a tax accountant at Arthur Andersen in Chicago for 35 years before retiring in 1998.
William Henning
Retired Galesburg attorney William H. Henning died May 26 at age 79 in the Heartland Health Care Center. A 1948 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, he served in the Navy during World War II and retired from the Naval Reserve in 1984 as a lieutenant commander.
A partner in Peel, Henning, Mathers & McKee, where he practiced from 1949 to 1986, Mr. Henning also was an assistant state's attorney from 1954 to 1956 and an public defender from 1957 to 1965.
Edwin Johnson
Edwin C. Johnson Jr., a retired Chicago management consultant who received a law degree from Yale University in 1951, died June 14 at age 85 in Norwich, Vt.
An Army artillery major in Europe during World War II, he received a Silver Star and Bronze Star and was a German prisoner of war briefly. After the war, he was chief of denazification for the military government in Bavaria.
After serving several government positions in Washington, D.C., and Brazil, Mr. Johnson represented Booz, Allen & Hamilton in New York, the Philippines and Chicago before starting his own firm.
Robert Jones
Retired Peoria attorney Robert H. Jones died June 9 at age 79. A 1951 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, he was honored in 2001 as a 50-year member of the Peoria County Bar Association and an ISBA Senior Counsellor.
Charles Lippitz
Retired Chicago attorney Charles Aronin Lippitz, who left his law practice in 1986 for a second career in show business, died July 1 at age 77 of pancreatic cancer.
A 1951 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Mr. Lippitz became a partner in Levenfeld, Kanter, Baskes & Lippitz. He was a past president of the 7th Circuit Bar Association.
A passion for the stage led Mr. Lippitz to pursue his interests as an actor and playwright for the Northlight Theater Open Door Ensemble.
His work in films earned him a Best Family Film Award for a feature, "Season of Change," in 1994 at the Santa Clarita International Film Festival. He received a television Emmy Award as producer of the 1995 PBS documentary, "Frank Yankovic: America's Polka King.
Alexander Lowinger
Retired Chicago attorney Alexander I. Lowinger died July 3 at age 87 of a neurological illness in King Home in Evanston. He was of counsel to Tenney & Bentley for several years prior to his 2001 retirement.
A 1941 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Mr. Lowinger served in the Army infantry in the South Pacific during World War II. He returned to Chicago in 1945 to begin a 56-year practice.
He served on the Highland Park-Deerfield High School board from 1967 to 1973 and on the Highland Park Planning Commission from 1969 to 1971.
Survivors include a son, Frederick C. Lowinger of Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood, Chicago.
George Overton
Chicago attorney George W. Overton Jr., who retired in September after being of counsel to Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon, died June 15 at age 86 of Parkinson's disease and a fractured hip at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge.
A 1946 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Mr. Overton's legal studies were interrupted by Army service during World War II, monitoring German communications for the Office of Strategic Services.
He practiced for several years with Pope & Ballard and became an advocate of professional ethics and social justice. He headed the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Professionalism from 1990 to 1994 and wrote ethics columns for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and CBA Record.
Mr. Overton was a founder in 1963 of the Openlands Project, which was devoted to preserving open space in Northern Illinois. He was credited with helping to establish the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and to protect the Illinois and Michigan Canal.
Mary Louise Ramsey
A pioneer woman attorney, Mary Louise Ramsey died May 27 at age 97 of Parkinson's disease in her Chicago home. One of the first women to study law at the University of Missouri, she graduated in 1928 with a bachelor of laws degree and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
While practicing in Michigan during the Depression, she earned a doctor of the science of law degree at the University of Michigan Law School in 1934 and became an expert in public utilities law.
After practicing in Chicago with Dawson & Dawson and Sonnenschein, Berkson, Lautman, Levinson & Morse, Miss Ramset became a legal analyst and writer for the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. She retired in the 1980s and returned to Chicago.
Mary Ryan-Reinking
Retired corporate attorney Mary Ryan-Reinking of Wheaton died June 9 at age 49 of multiple sclerosis. A 1983 graduate of the Loyola University School of Law, she had a master's degree in counseling from Gonzaga University.
Mrs. Ryan-Reinking was an attorney for Navistar Corp. in Chicago for 10 years and for Motorola Inc. in Schaumburg for one year. She also volunteered with Meals on Wheels, delivering food to the elderly in Wheaton.
Survivors include her husband, William H. Reinking, an attorney with the Chicago Hospital Risk Pooling. She was the daughter of former United Airlines attorney Jack Ryan.
Paul Welch
Bloomington attorney Paul R. Welch, who was McLean County state's attorney from 1968 to 1976, died June 3 at age 67 in BroMenn Regional Medical Center, Normal.
A 1962 graduate of the Washington University Law School, Mr. Welch was an Army captain for the next three years. He was a partner in Costigan & Wollrab for 28 years.
Kenneth Whitney
Retired corporate attorney Kenneth A. Whitney of Evanston died June 4 at age 56 in Evanston Hospital after a stroke. He was a 1972 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law.
After beginning his legal career with Jenner & Block, Mr. Whitney was chief counsel of the state's Department of General Services during the administration of Gov. Dan Walker. He was in-house counsel for Motorola Inc. for 23 years before retiring in 2000.
His interest in family history led to publication of "Carologue," a history of seven generations of slave relatives, in 1993 by the South Carolina Historical Society.
Mr. Whitney served on the District 65 Board of Education in Evanston from 1989 to 1995.
Edward Zigman
Chicago attorney Edward Dennis Zigman died in June at age 57. He was a 1979 graduate of the Lewis University Law School, now the Northern Illinois University College of Law.
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