Epilogue

There seemed to be no limit to the variety of ways that Larry Pusateri would serve the legal profession.

Highlights of his service in the state legislature, on the Appellate Court and as president of the Illinois State Bar Association were only brief chapters in a Homeric saga that came to an end on Thanksgiving day.

Chicago attorney Lawrence X. Pusateri, an ISBA Senior Counsellor, died Nov. 24 at age 74 of colon cancer. For the past 10 years, he was sole trustee of the Gertrude and Walter E. Swanson Foundation.

A 1953 summa cum laude graduate, the first at the DePaul University College of Law, Mr. Pusateri's early legal experience might have led him to a career in Hollywood.

A commissioned Army officer, he was hastily admitted in the chambers of Supreme Court Justice Walter Schafer before deployment to Heidelberg, Germany, as a military lawyer.

One of his first cases, involving the rape of a 13-year-old German girl by seven soldiers, became the subject of a 1961 movie, “Town Without Pity.”

Mr. Pusateri prosecuted and gained convictions of all seven. His case turned on the testimony of the girl, who had collapsed twice in court while facing the men who attacked her. He obtained court approval to interview her in the hospital.

Later, he was asked to serve as a technical adviser for the film, but was disappointed to learn that several key details were changed by screenwriters and studio officials.

Discharged as a captain in 1957, Mr. Pusateri joined the Illinois National Guard and became an assistant Cook County state's attorney and a special assistant Illinois attorney general.

In 1959, he joined Newton, Wilhelm & Kenny and two years later was named a partner in Newton, Wilhelm, Pusateri & Naborowski. He was elected president of the Cook County and Proviso Young Republicans, and he took first place in an ISBA Lincoln Award Legal Writing Contest.

In 1964, Mr. Pusateri was elected to the Illinois General Assembly on the long at-large ballot, after the legislature had failed to reapportion districts after the 1960 census.

He served in the Illinois House for four years and chaired the Illinois Pardon and Parole Board from 1968 to 1970. While a legislator, he chaired the Illinois Criminal Investigating Commission until its appropriation was eliminated. From 1971 to 1975, he was chief counsel to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Mr. Pusateri's involvement in bar leadership began in 1966 as a member of the Chicago Bar Association board of managers. He was elected to the ISBA Board of Governors in 1970 and two years later was elected third vice president.

A few months after his inauguration as president in 1975, Mr. Pusateri resigned Jan. 2, 1976, to accept nomination as the Republican candidate for the Illinois Supreme Court. He lost the election but was appointed to an Appellate Court vacancy on June 15, 1977.

In 1978, he was invited by Owen Rall, who had been ISBA president in 1961-62, to join the Chicago firm of Peterson, Ross, Schloerb & Seidel. He was a capital partner until 1995, when he became of counsel to Peterson & Ross and took over the Swanson Foundation.

Simultaneously, Mr. Pusateri chaired the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board part-time from January through December 1995 after the accidental death of its first executive, Ray F. Breen.

Always willing to accept new responsibilities within the ISBA, Mr. Pusateri was chair of the Committee on Judicial Evaluations for several years, developing standards that are still used. He received a Board of Governors Award for these efforts.

He also served on the Committee on Legislation, the Committee on the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, and the Joint Committee on Judicial Com-pensation. He chaired the Bench and Bar Section Council and its committee on judicial discipline, and the Illinois Lawyers Political Action Committee (LAWPAC).

Most recently, Mr. Pusateri was appointed last year to the ISBA Committee on Supreme and Appellate Court Election Campaign Tone and Conduct, an initiative that urged candidates to campaign with integrity and to discourage misrepresentations.

He served twice on Northern District Merit Selection Committees of Senators Paul Simon and Carol Moseley-Braun, and he was a member of two commissions that studied Illinois court systems after federal investigations.

Mr. Pusateri was a member of an ARDC Hearing Board and the Supreme Court Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions, and chair of a hearing panel for the Cook County Mandatory Arbitration System for 10 years.

He devoted time to many boards, including the Illinois Bar Foundation. He was past president of the Justinian Society of Lawyers, which honored him in 1976 with its annual Award of Merit.

Retired Chicago attorney John J. “Jack” Casey, a Wilmette resident, died Nov. 13 at age 71 in Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He was a former partner in Hamblet, Casey, Oremus & Vacin.

A 1960 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law, Mr. Casey was a past president of the Citizen's Committee of the Juvenile Court.

Retired Chicago attorney Francis X. “Bo” Cuisinier, a college football and baseball star who chose law over a professional sports career, died Nov. 3 in his home, two days after his 99th birthday.

Quarterback of a winning University of Wisconsin varsity football team in 1928, Mr. Cuisinier studied law there for two years after graduation while coaching the Badgers backfield. He received his law degree in 1934 from the Loyola University School of Law.

His solo general practice was interrupted by World War II. He enlisted at age 35 and was a gunnery officer on a battleship in the South Pacific, finishing his tour of duty as a lieutenant commander.

Mr. Cuisinier retired at age 80. Survivors include a son, Francis P. Cuisinier of Hartigan & Cuisinier, Chicago.

Zion attorney Harold Thomas Davis died Nov. 10 at age 63 in St. Catherine's Hospital, Kenosha, Wis. A 1978 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, he also had a master's degree in history from Northeastern Illinois University.

Mr. Davis taught classes and coached baseball at Zion-Benton Township High School for 11 years before becoming a lawyer, and was a cast member of the Zion Passion Play. He raised dairy goats for competition.

Peoria attorney Thomas Ralph Davis died Oct. 22 at age 53 in the emergency room of Proctor Hospital. A deputy sheriff of Peoria County from 1976 to 1983, he graduated with honors in 1986 from the DePaul University College of Law.

A partner in Miller, Hall & Triggs, Mr. Davis previously was an associate with Davis & Morgan and an assistant Tazewell County state's attorney.

He was president of the Peoria Opportunities Foundation and past president of the East Bluff Neighborhood Housing Service Association.

Mr. Davis served on the Peoria Zoning Board of Appeals from 1987 to 1996 and was its chair for several years. He also was a member of the Peoria Housing Authority.

Springfield attorney Robert Eugene Dehen died Nov. 16 at age 89 in St. John's Hospital. He was a 1953 cum laude graduate of the Lincoln College of Law.

An official of Montgomery Ward and Co. from 1939 to 1955, he served as chief accountant, personnel director and comptroller before opening a practice in Springfield in 1956.

Mr. Dehen was a member of the Sangamon County Board of Review (1961-65), legal aide to the lieutenant governor and technical adviser to the Illinois State Police (1961-64), parliamentarian to the Senate president in the 72nd and 73rd General Assemblies, and attorney for the state fire marshal.

Former Evanston and Chicago attorney Sherman Dickholtz, who had relocated to Las Vegas, Nov., died in December at age 80. A 1953 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, he was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1955 and was still registered to practice in this state.

An Army combat paratrooper during World War II, Mr. Dickholtz was a proctor of the American MENSA Society. Services will be conducted next spring at Arlington National Cemetery.

Former Rockford attorney John P. “Jack” Graves died Nov. 10 at age 69 in his Sarasota, Fla., home. A 1961 graduate of the Chicago-Kent College of Law after Army service in Korea he practiced with Hinshaw & Culbertson in Rockford and also was admitted in Wisconsin.

Mr. Graves was admitted to the Florida bar in 1980, and he became a board certified civil trial lawyer in 1983. He was a member of the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers and an advocate of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

In Sarasota, he served on the boards of the Alzheimer's Association and the Asolo Theatre, where he was co-producer of several plays.

Retired Chicago real estate attorney Laurence M. Gross died in November at age 49. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1984.

Lansing attorney Paul Roy Harkenrider died Nov. 6 at age 79. A 1949 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, he served in the Navy during World War II.

Mr. Harkenrider had retired from the LaSalle National Bank in Chicago after 30 years as a probate officer. He served on the board of the Lansing Association for Retired Citizens.

Chicago attorney Robert Herod Holloway died Nov. 21 at age 87. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1949 after service as an Army captain in North Africa during World War II.

A former assistant Cook County state's attorney, Mr. Holloway served in the Illinois House of Representatives in 1972.

Retired 4th Circuit judge and appellate justice George William Kasserman Jr. of Newton died Oct. 30 at age 84 in Crawford Memorial Hospital, Robinson.

A 1948 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, Mr. Kasserman was a decorated Army captain with the 2nd Armored Division in Europe during World War II. During the Korean War, he as an instructor at Judge Advocate General School in Virginia.

Mr. Kasserman was elected Jasper County state's attorney in 1948 and was in private practice from 1952 to 1958, when he was elected county judge. He was an associate judge and circuit judge before his assignment to the Appellate Court from 1979 to 1987.

Survivors include a grandson, Shawn Stephen Kasserman of Corboy & Demetrio, Chicago.

Charles W. Kreie of Peoria, a 1959 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law who never registered to practice, died Nov. 1 at age 70 in his home.

Owner and president of Faber Musser Building Materials for 40 years, he retired this year and worked for Century 21 Lincoln National. He served on the Peoria Traffic Commission, the Animal Review Board and the Boy Scouts Council.

Northbrook attorney Alphons Stephen Krisor Jr. died Nov. 18 at age 93. A 1942 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, he was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1943 after Navy service on a destroyer escort during World War II.

A former local magistrate before court reform, Mr. Krisor was village attorney for Wheeling.

Retired 13th Circuit judge Robert Warren Malmquist of Morris died Oct. 22 at age 84 in Morris Hospital. An Army Air Corps second lieutenant in the Pacific during World War II, he graduated in 1948 from the University of Chicago law School.

Mr. Malmquist was a partner in Root & Hoffman for 10 years before being elected Grundy County Family Court judge in 1958. He left the bench in 1979 to form the firm of Malmquist & Malmquist with his son, Timothy P. Malmquist. He remained of counsel to Malmquist & Geiger.

Past president of the Grundy County bar Association and Morris Rotary Club, Robert Malmquist was scoutmaster of a Boy Scout troop and recipient of a Silver Beaver Award.

Retired Alton attorney Robert Maucker died Oct. 3 at age 90 in Florida. A 1939 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, he practiced in Edwardsville before joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a special agent during World War II.

Mr. Maucker practiced briefly after the war before joining Alton Box Board. He was a partner in Hoagland, Maucker, Bernard & Almeter from 1960 until his retirement in 1983.

Retired McLeansboro attorney Bernard Lowell Minton died Nov. 2 at age 92 at Heritage Woods of Manteno. He graduated in 1952 from the University of Illinois College of Law after Navy service during World War II, and practiced until 2000.

Retired Chicago attorney Richard Francis Peterson, a former Northbrook resident, died Nov. 8 at age 80. He graduated in 1951 from the DePaul University College of Law after service in the Navy Air Corps during World War II.

He was a founding partner in Peterson, Bogucki, Bickley & Beck, later Richard F. Peterson & Associates. He also was a founder, general counsel and vice president of Holding Corp. of America and the Thomas Jefferson Life Insurance Co.

Mr. Peterson retired to Prescott, Ariz., in 1978 and was a Catholic Eucharistic minister.

Chicago attorney Harold D. Shapiro, a partner in Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, died in December at age 78. He was a 1952 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law and a Harriman adjunct professor.

Mr. Shapiro was a past president of the Legal Club of Chicago.

Retired corporate attorney Stephen R. Smith died Nov. 24 at age 81 at the Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community in Asheville, N.C.

A graduate of the Yale University Law School after service in the Army Air Corps during World War II, Mr. Smith practiced in New York before joining the Sunbeam Appliance Corp. in Chicago and being admitted to the Illinois bar in 1955.

He was Sunbeam's president when he retired in 1985 and moved to Asheville. He was part owner of DamppChaser Electronics Co. in Hendersonville.

Past president of the Men's Garden Club of Asheville, Mr. Smith was president of Men's Garden Clubs of America in 1998-99.

Morton attorney Francis Marion “Frank” Wanless died Nov. 9 at age 86 in his home. A 1951 graduate of the Lincoln College of Law, he was an Army Air Corps flight instructor during World War II.

Mr. Wanless was Morton village attorney for more than 20 years, attorney for Tremont Savings Bank for 30 years and a trustee, and a former assistant Illinois attorney general.