Epilogue

G. Kent Phillips, one of the last Illinois attorneys who did not graduate from a law school, died Dec. 17 at age 92 in Crawford County. A former Robinson attorney, he lived in Palestine, Ill.

After working as a journalist, Mr. Phillips was manager of the Palestine Building and Loan Association from 1939 until 1943, when he joined the Army at age 30. He was a counter intelligence agent in the Pacific during World War II.

Sometime after the war, Mr. Phillips began to read law under the tutelage of Robinson attorney Carroll T. Cox. He passed the bar examination and was admitted in 1957. He joined the firm of Cox & Cox, which was named Cox, Phillips, Weber & Tedford (now Cox, Phillips, Weber, Tedford & Heap) when he retired in 1985.

Utilizing his experience as a journalist, Mr. Phillips became well known as a local historian and published several articles on the early history of Crawford County.

He served on several boards, including the Palestine Telephone Co., United Savings and Loan Association, Farmer's State Bank and AmBanc. He was a member of the school board for several terms and the Crawford Memorial Hospital Foundation board.

Retired Lake Forest attorney Nicholas C. Avgerin, a Highland Park resident, died Dec. 4 at age 74 in Veterans Affairs Medical Center, North Chicago. He was admitted to the Washington, D.C. bar in 1956 and to the Illinois bar in 1958.

After retiring from practice five years ago, Mr. Avgerin attended Southern Illinois University to work on his dissertation for a doctor of philosophy degree.

Oakbrook Terrace attorney Nicholas Peter Bell died Dec. 9 at age 73 of lung cancer at ManorCare Health Services, Hinsdale. A 1960 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, he had served in the Army in Korea.

An assistant Cook County state's attorney for six years before opening a private practice in Chicago, Mr. Bell relocated to Oakbrook Terrace in 1974.

He served on the Butler Elementary School District board in Oak Brook from 1985 to 1989 and was a member of the Oak Brook Civic Association. He was 13h District governor of the American Hellenic Education Progressive Association in 1972.

Chicago attorney Elizabeth Ann Birt, a Wilmette resident, died Dec. 28 at age 49 from injuries suffered in an automobile accident while vacationing near Aspen, Colo., where she owned investment property.

A former insurance underwriter, Ms. Birt graduated in 1992 from the DePaul University College of Law with a juris doctorate and master of laws in taxation, and became assistant general counsel of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center.

She joined Lebow & Malecki three years ago as a health care attorney after a brief practice with Ross & Hardies.

An advocate for autistic children like her son, Ms. Birt founded Medical Intervention for Autism and the Coalition for Safe Minds. She was counsel to the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform and author in 2003 of the staff report, “Mercury in Medicines: Taking Unnecessary Risks.”

Retired Highland Park attorney David Leo Canmann Sr. died Dec. 8 at age 90 in his home. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, her was a 1939 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School.

Mr. Canmann practiced briefly with Schwartz & Cooper in Chicago before joining Ekco Products and serving in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II.

During the next 35 years, he became executive vice president, chief financial officer and general counsel, and had served on the Ekco board since 1948.

Survivors include a son, Highland Park attorney David Leo Canmann Jr.

Retired Chicago attorney Walter Jacob Cudzik died Dec. 11 at age 73 in his home at Gulf Shores, Ala. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1967 and retired in 2002.

After receiving his undergraduate de-gree from Purdue University in 1953, Mr. Cudzik played professional football with the Washington Redskins, Boston Patriots and Buffalo Bills, retiring after the Bills won the American Football League championship in 1964.

Assistant Cook County state's attorney Elizabeth Halbert Edwards, formerly of Bloomington, died in January at age 27. A 2004 graduate of the Loyola University School of Law, she was assigned to criminal appeals.

Chicago attorney Truman Kella Gibson Jr. died Dec. 23 at age 93 in Mercy Hospital, Chicago. He had suffered a stroke and heart attack on Nov. 17.

A 1935 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Mr. Gibson became a civilian aide to the U.S. War Department in 1940 and served on President Truman's Advisory Committee on Universal Military Training.

A recipient in 1947 of the Presidential Medal of Merit as a member of Truman's “Black Cabinet,” he helped convince the president to desegregate the military in 1948.

As a member of the defense team of real estate broker Carl Hansberry in 1940, Mr. Gibson participated in the Supreme Court case of Lee v. Hansberry that inspired the play, “A Raisin in the Sun,” by Lorraine Hansberry.

In 1940 he also was executive director of the American Negro Exposition in Chicago, a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Onetime lawyer for boxing champion Joe Louis, Mr. Gibson entered into a partnership as the sport's first black promoter and a founder of the International Boxing Club.

His memoir, “Knocking Down Barriers: My Fight for Black American,” was published last year by Northwestern University Press.

A private practitioner on Chicago's South Side since 1963, Mr. Gibson most recently was a partner with Wanemond Smith.

Toussaint L'Overture Hale Jr. of Chicago, a graduate of the Howard University Law School who never registered to practice in Illinois, died Dec. 20.

A retired officer of Bank One, he was a life trustee of Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago, vice chair of the Illinois Community College Board and past chair of its System Funding Task Force.

Naperville attorney Charles Francis Hendershot died Dec. 30 at age 57. A 1982 graduate of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, he was employed by the Wheatland Salem United Methodist Church.

Former Chicago regional manager of the Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Hendershot was a corporate attorney and private practitioner for more than 20 years. He was a military police officer in the National Guard, Chicago Armory.

Retired Chicago attorney Eugene Kart died in January at age 94. A member of Phi Beta Kappa and a 1936 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law, he served in the Navy during World War II.

Mr. Kart was of counsel to Fisk, Kart, Katz & Regan, which he founded as Fisk & Kart. He was national president of the Law Society in 1957-58 and a special assistant Illinois attorney general in 1964-65.

Survivors include a brother, Gilbert Kart, also of counsel to the firm.

Retired Chicago attorney Charles Kraut died in December at age 88. He was a 1961 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law.

Carolyn Kadota Laktineh of Whittier, Calif., a 2001 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law who did not register to practice in this state, died Dec. 5 at age 38 of breast cancer.

Retired Chicago probate attorney William H. LeVitus, a Highwood resident, died Dec. 5 at age 75 of cancer. A veteran of Navy service after World War II and during the Korean War, he graduated in 1963 from the Chicago-Kent College of Law.

After several years with Lee, Gieren & Phelan, Mr. LeVitus began a solo practice. He was joined in 1998 by a son, Kurt J. LeVitus.

Ellen Liebman, a 1978 graduate of the University of Kentucky Law School who never registered to practice in Illinois, died Dec. 26 at age 52 of ovarian cancer in North-western Memorial Hospital.

After three years as an assistant Kentucky attorney general, Ms. Liebman entered the University of Chicago Law School in 1981 with a Harry A. Bigelow Teaching Fellow-ship.

She subsequently became an assistant professor of constitutional law at the University of Arkansas School of Law. She left in 1984 to pursue and achieve a master's degree from Yale Law School.

Returning to Chicago in 1985, Ms. Liebman wrote for Chicago Lawyer and the Clearinghouse Review, served on the Francis W. Parker School board and headed its parents' association.

She was on the advisory boards of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at the Northwestern University School of Law and the Chicago chapter of Facing History and Ourselves.

Retired Mt. Prospect attorney Charles J. Malin, formerly of Chicago and Arlington Heights, died Dec. 4 at age 88 in his home in Tucson, Ariz., where he had moved in 2002.

A 1942 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, Mr. Malin operated an insurance agency in addition to his 60-year law practice in the Chicago area.

Retired insurance industry executive Michael E. Miller died Dec. 11 at age 69 in his South Barrington home. A 1962 graduate of the Creighton University School of Law, he was not registered to practice in Illinois.

After a few years of practice in Omaha, Mr. Miller joined Employers Reinsurance in Kansas City in 1968 and was transferred to Chicago in 1973. He was senior executive in the branch office when he retired in 1998.

A director of the Chicago District Golf Association for the past seven years, Mr. Miller officiated at golf tournaments throughout the state.

Bloomingdale attorney Joseph Patrick O'Halloran died in January at age 51. A 1979 graduate of the Loyola University School of Law, he practiced previously in Chicago.

Chicago attorney Stuart David Perlman died Jan. 2 at age 71 of a brain tumor. A partner in Perlman & Horvitz, he was a 1959 graduate of the Yale Law School.

Mr. Perlman relocated to the Illinois attorney general's office Chicago in 1962 and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1963. He eventually practiced with two law firms before forming a partnership with Robert I. Horvitz.

Retired attorney Paul N. Stamat died recently at age 81. A 1951 graduate of the Loyola University School of Law, he had been an Army sergeant in Europe during World War II.

Mr. Stamat was a founder of Quatrum Corp. and former executive vice president and counsel to St. Nicholas and St. Spridon Greek Churches.

Retired attorney Robert James Stastny died Dec. 5 at age 94 in his River Forest home. A 1934 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, he was regional counsel for the Federal National Mortgage Association.

Retired Chicago trial lawyer Leo M. Tarpey Jr. of Naples, Fla., a past president of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel, died Jan. 1 at age 71 of cancer.

A 1957 cum laude graduate of the Loyola University School of Law, Mr. Tarpey received his degree in absentia while serving as an Army officer. His law practice began with Lord, Bissell & Brook.

He later was a founding partner in Doyle, Berdelle & Tarpey, and was a senior partner in Pretzel & Stouffer when he retired in 1998 after 20 years with the firm. He served on the boards of the Defense Research Institute and the Illinois Society of Trial Lawyers.

Survivors include three sons, all Chicago attorneys: Leo Michael Tarpey of Donohue, Brown, Mathewson & Smyth; Peter Daniel Tarpey of Paul B. Episcope Ltd., and Daniel Walsh Tarpey of Seyfarth Shaw.

Belleville attorney Roger Lee Vetter, legal counsel to several school districts, died Nov. 11 at age 60 of lung cancer. He was a 1973 graduate of the St. Louis University Law School after service as an Army criminal investigator during the Vietnam War.

Mr. Vetter represented the Fairview Heights Pontiac-William Holliday School District for 12 years, and also counseled the boards of Wolf Branch in Swansea, Central in O'Fallon and Belleville Township High School.

He was assistant city attorney for Bel-leville from 1994 to 1997.

Chicago attorney Harold Calvin “Stormy” Wheeler II died Dec. 8 at age 60 of a heart attack while driving near his Evanston home. He was a commercial reinsurance litigator for Butler, Rubin, Saltarelli & Boyd.

A Navy officer in Vietnam in 1968-69, Mr. Wheeler graduated in 1974 from the University of Virginia Law School and was admitted in Illinois the next year.

He began practice with Winston & Strawn and later was a partner in Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather & Geraldson. He joined Butler, Rubin in 1997.

Mr. Wheeler served on the Chicago board of Prevent Child Abuse America.