Epilogue

Rolland Fortner Tipsword of Taylorville, a retired judge and state representative, died April 5 at age 81 in St. Vincent Memorial Hospital. He was a past president of the Christian County Bar Association.

A 1951 honors graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law and member of Phi Beta Kappa, Mr. Tipsword served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II. He served stints as clerk to Illinois Supreme Court Justice Harry Hershey in 1951-54 and 1957-60.

After joining the firm of Hershey & Bliss, he was Christian County state's attorney from 1960 to 1966. He was a founding member of Tipsword & Fraley, which became Coale, Taylor, Tipsword, Fraley & Doyle.

Mr. Tipsword served in the Illinois House from 1966 to 1979, and was a judge of the 4th Circuit from 1983 to 1993. He was a member of the Supreme Court committee that prepared the first Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions.

A charter member of the Taylorville Kiwanis Club, he was worthy grand patron of the Order of Eastern Star in Illinois in 1970. He received a Meritorious Service Award in 1975 from the Masons.

Retired Chicago attorney Elmer Ellsworth Abrahamson Jr. died March 18 at age 66 in New Holstein, Wis. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1966 and practiced estate planning and probate with his father, Elmer E. Abrahamson Sr. He left the practice of law in 1985 and moved to Wisconsin in 2002.

Retired railroad executive Orval M. Adam, a resident of Flossmoor and Olympia Fields, died April 18 at age 76 in Ft. Myers, Fla. He was a former Flossmoor village trustee.

A 1961 graduate of the Georgetown University Law School and Distinguished Alumnus of Canisius College, Mr. Adam became chief financial officer of the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad. He retired in 2000.

Retired Batavia attorney and real estate broker Ami (Amariah) “Jack” Frost Allen died April 4 at age 93 after a heart attack in his home.

A 1939 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Mr. Allen served stateside during World War II as a personnel officer for the Army Air Corps.

He practiced in the trust department of Harris Trust and Savings Bank and with Bell, Boyd & Marshall until 1948, when he joined the family real estate brokerage, A. L. Allen & Sons, in St. Charles and later Geneva. He was senior partner when he retired in 1984.

Francis Alfred Allen, a 1950 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law who taught criminal law for 40 years, died April 6 at age 87 in a Gainesville, Fla. hospital.

Mr. Allen's teaching positions began at Northwestern in 1948, after service as an Army Air Corps weatherman during World War II, and included Harvard, the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan, where he was dean of the law school from 1966 to 1971.

He retired from Michigan as Edson R. Sunderland professor emeritus and was named Huber C. Hurst eminent scholar at the University of Florida, where he taught until 1994.

Mr. Allen chaired the U.S. attorney general's Commission on Poverty and the Administration of Justice that led to the Criminal Justice Act in 1964 and the Bail Reform Act in 1966.

He helped write the Model Penal Code of the American Law Institute and was principal architect of the Illinois Criminal Code in 1961. He was president of the Association of American Law Schools in 1976.

Mr. Allen had honorary degrees from the University of Chicago, University of Victoria and Cornell College. The author of several books, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1975.

Retired Chicago attorney James Wheeler Ashley, a former partner in McDermott, Will & Emery, died April 2 at age 83 of pneumonia in a Hanover, N.H., assisted living facility.

A 1948 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law, Mr. Ashley was an Army Air Corps navigator in several missions over Europe during World War II. He worked in the trust department of Continental Bank before joining the law firm in 1957 and eventually chairing the Estate Planning Department. He retired in 1988 and moved to Vermont.

A board member of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago since 1966, Mr. Ashley became its chair in 1974 and also chaired the board of the YMCA of USA from 1985 to 1987. He headed a task force that rebuilt the Jerusalem YMCA.

Survivors include a son, James W. Ashley Jr. of Lord, Bissell & Brook, Chicago.

Retired Buffalo Grove attorney Milton Berzock died in May at age 80. A 1948 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, he was a resident of Lincolnwood.

Burbank attorney Peter Burban died May 2 at age 55 of cancer. He was a 1979 graduate of the Lewis University College of Law, now the Northern Illinois University College of Law.

Retired Chicago attorney John Girault Campbell died March 28 at age 73 of pancreatic cancer in his Vero Beach, Fla., home. A 1961 graduate of Harvard Law School, he served four years in the Navy.

Mr. Campbell was a partner in Peterson, Ross, Schloerb & Seidel until 1987, when he and several colleagues left to form McCullough, Campbell & Lane. He was general counsel to the American Osteopathic Society for more than 30 years.

Former Chicago attorney Carrie Lynn DeValk Chorzempa, a Riverside resident, died April 3 at age 38 in her home of colon cancer. She was a 1993 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law.

Mrs. Chorzempa practiced with Latham & Watkins before becoming the first associate in the new Chicago firm of GoodSmith, Gregg & Unruh in corporate law and real estate financing.

Survivors include her husband, David J. Chorzempa, counsel for the Regulatory State Practice Group at AT&T in Chicago.

Justin Patrick DeRose of Chicago, a 2005 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law whose illness prevented him from taking the bar exam, died April 15 at age 26 of leukemia in Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Mr. DeRose had been offered a position with Jenner & Block after interning with the office of federal defender.

Survivors include his father, Hinsdale attorney John P. DeRose.

Retired Chicago attorney John William Dubbs Jr. died April 8 at age 90 after a stroke. Formerly of Northfield, he was a resident of a Glenview retirement community.

A 1942 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law, Mr. Dubbs served in the Army Intelligence Corps in West Africa and the Middle East during World War II. He was a Harris Fellow in the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Club.

He was the son of attorney John W. Dubbs and the father of John W. Dubbs III of Hinshaw & Culbertson, Chicago.

Chicago attorney John Thomas Durkin died May 3 at age 80 of lung disease in Resurrection Hospital. He graduated in 1950 from the DePaul University College of Law after postwar Army service.

Mr. Durkin was a lawyer at First National Bank of Chicago for more than 30 years before joining Arnstein & Lehr to continue practicing in probate and trust.

Peoria attorney Joseph Michael Gibson died March 15 at age 57 in OSF Saint Francis Medical Center after a massive heart attack. A 1975 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, he was an assistant state's attorney before opening a solo practice in criminal defense.

Donald P. Lay, former chief judge of the St. Louis-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit who retired last year, died April 29 at age 80 in his North Oaks, Minn., home.

Born in Princeton, Ill., Mr. Lay graduated from the University of Iowa Law School in 1951 and was a trial lawyer in Milwaukee and Omaha until his appointment to federal court in 1966. He was chief judge from 1980 to 1992.

Chicago attorney Juli Wilson Marshall, a Lake Forest resident, died May 2 at age 48 of accidental drowning during a triathlon in St. Petersburg, Fla. She participated with Team in Training to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Mrs. Marshall joined Latham & Watkins in Los Angeles in 1984 and moved with the firm to Chicago in 1994. She was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1995.

In 2005, Mrs. Marshall started the KIDS Alliance (Kids in Disaster Situations) to address the mental health of children who are traumatized by events such as Hurricane Katrina.

Chicago attorney John “Jack” Edward McGovern Jr., a partner in Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon, died April 10 at age 76 of lung cancer in Rush University Medical Center.

A Navy lieutenant from 1953 to 1956, Mr. McGovern graduated in 1959 from Harvard Law School and joined Wilson & McIlvaine in Chicago. He was a partner when he left in 1987 for Wildman Harrold to practice corporate and securities law.

A Lake Forest resident, Mr. McGovern was an alderman from 1972 to 1984, and a member of the Lake Forest Hospital and Lake Forest College boards for 10 years. He was a trustee of the Ravinia Festival and a director of the Chicago Heart Association.

Survivors include a son, Chicago attorney John E. McGovern III.

Paxton attorney Charles Warren Pacey died April 6 at age 90 in Heartland Healthcare Center. He was the father of 11th Circuit Judge Stephen R. Pacey and Paxton attorney Charles W. “Chip” Pacey.

A 1941 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, Mr. Pacey served in the Navy as a combat aviator in the South Pacific during World War II. He retired as a Navy Reserve lieutenant commander after 20 years.

A past president of the Paxton Area Chamber of Commerce and past commander of the American Legion post, Mr. Pacey was an organizer of the Paxton Industrial Development Corp. and a director of two banks.

He owned and flew private aircraft until he was almost 70 years old and was the primary organizer and builder of the city airport. In his 80s, he was a mentor at the Paxton-Buckley-Loda Junior High School.

Retired Chicago attorney Jules Martin Perlberg died May 5 at age 76 in his Glencoe home. He graduated first in his class at the University of Michigan Law School in 1957 after Army service in Italy.

Mr. Perlberg joined Sidley & Austin in 1958 and handled complex, high-profile cases and federal appeals until he retired in 2001.

A past president of the Glencoe school board, he was an officer of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and a member of the American Jewish Committee executive board.

Survivors include a son, Michael T. Perlberg, senior vice president and general counsel of Levy Restaurants in Chicago.

Homer Seymour Pringle, a retired attorney for Underwriters Laboratories in Northbrook, died April 1 at age 76 of cancer in the Midwest Palliative Care and Hospice Center, Glenview. He was a Wilmette resident.

A 1962 graduate of the Cornell University Law School, Mr. Pringle had a master's degree in public administration. He practiced with a Boston firm before becoming staff counsel to the National Fire Protection Association. He joined Underwriters in 1976 and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1981. He retired in 1997.

A retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, Mr. Pringle was a former instructor at the Army Command and General Staff College in Kansas.

Chicago attorney Burton Reif died April 5 at age 75 of leukemia in Rush University Medical Center. A 1955 graduate of Harvard Law School, he practiced with Reif & Gopman and Fischel & Kahn.

A community activist and volunteer in the Rogers Park neighborhood, Mr. Reif worked to preserve the mix of businesses and residences, and saved mansions for civic uses.

He was president of the Rogers Park Community Council in the 1960s, and he chaired the Sheridan Road Planning and Development Committee from 1988 to 1994.

Retired Cook County Criminal Division judge Gerald Thomas Rohrer died April 6 at age 66 of lung cancer in his home in Park Ridge, where he was an alderman from 1979 to 1981.

A 1966 graduate of the Loyola University School of Law, Mr. Rohrer was an assistant state's attorney until 1969, when he became an assistant Illinois attorney general.

He was appointed an associate judge in 1981 and presided in felony and misdemeanor jury trials and domestic violence cases at the 2nd Municipal District Courthouse in Skokie.

Survivors include a son, Gerald T. Rohrer Jr. of Schuyler, Roche & Zwirner, Chicago.

Nancy Selk, a journalist and lawyer who was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1980 but had been inactive since 1983, died April 2 in California after years of pain with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and depression.

Ms. Selk had a mediation and arbitration service in El Cerrito and was past chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the Women Lawyers of Alameda County. She was a member of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution.

Chicago attorney Jordan Teplitz died April 10 at age 75. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1960.

Also an actor, Mr. Teplitz appeared in several films, including “Stranger than Fiction” in 2006 with Will Farrell and Dustin Hoffman.

DesPlaines attorney Milton H. Tuttle, a Prospect Heights resident, died March 25 at age 93 in Northwest Community Hospital, Arlington Heights. He was of counsel to Tuttle, Vedral & Collins.

A 1936 graduate of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Mr. Tuttle opened a practice in 1954 in DesPlaines, where he became a justice of the peace and Maine Township tax collector and auditor.

He served on the boards of the DesPlaines National Bank and DesPlaines Historical Society, and was a life member of the Lions Club and an honorary trustee of the Lions of Illinois Foundation.

A Lions Club past president and district governor, Mr. Tuttle received 13 International President's Awards, two International Leadership Awards, and a Melvin Jones Fellow Award.

Survivors include his son-in-law and law partner William D. Vedral.

Former corporate attorney John W. Wardell of Palatine died April 2 at age 77 of cancer at Kindred Hospital in Sycamore. A 1956 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law and member of Phi Beta Kappa, he served stateside as an Army medical technician during the Korean War.

Mr. Wardell practiced in the Standard Oil legal department for seven years, then did international legal work for Motorola in China and Japan and was general counsel of Matsue Electronics.

In 1968, he opened a solo practice in Crystal Lake and later relocated to Palatine. He served on the board of the Hospice Foundation of Northeastern Illinois for eight years.

Survivors include a daughter, Laurie A. Wardell, Employment Opportunity Project director for the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and a son, Seattle attorney Michael Wardell.

Lesley Robert Zegart of Joliet, an assistant Illinois attorney general in the Public Aid Bureau, died May 2 at age 64 in Provena St. Joseph Medical Center. He was a 1987 graduate of the Northern Illinois University College of Law.