When the litany of civic and professional activities of Peoria attorney Karl B. Kuppler was read publicly on Feb. 15, it sounded like a summary of the work of a diligent group of community leaders.

Kuppler, a partner in Hasselberg, Rock, Bell & Kuppler, received the Peoria County Bar Association Distinguished Community Service Award during the 99th annual Lincoln Memorial Banquet.

As Gregory S. Bell, his law partner and nominator, pointed out, Kuppler since 1985 has joined local organizations to make a difference through quiet, capable leadership with talent and vision.

A 1981 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, he practiced with Isham, Lincoln & Beale in Chicago for five years before joining Sutkowski & Washkuhn in Peoria.

As president of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, Kuppler handled troubling personnel issues and directed a search for a new executive director. As president of Opera Illinois, he implemented a collaboration with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra.

While he was vice president and president of the Crittenton Care and Counseling Center board, two new group homes were opened and a day-care facility was enlarged.

Kuppler also serves on the boards of Bartonville Bank, Community Foundation of Central Illinois, Heritage Ensemble, North Central College Alumni and Peoria Symphony Foundation, and he is vice president of the Rotary Club.

An American Red Cross Planned Giving and Estate Planning Committee member, he was co-chair for two years of participation by Three Miles of Men in the Komen Race for the Cure.

A member of the ISBA Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Section Council from 1988 to 1991, Kuppler is a past president of the Central Illinois Estate Planning Council and former vice chair of the Tax Committee of the ABA Section of General Practice.

“Our community, legal and non-legal, is a better place as a result of Karl's decision to locate in Peoria,” Bell told bar association members and guests at the Lincoln dinner.

The award recognizes exemplary records of longtime community volunteerism that bring honor to the city and bar association. Previous recipients include ISBA past president Timothy L. Bertschy.