Congressman John Erlenborn was ‘father of ERISA'

Retired Congressman John Neal Erlenborn, a former DuPage County attorney, died Oct. 30 at age 78 in his Virginia home as a result of Lewy body disease.

Known as the “father of ERISA” for championing passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by the U.S. House of Representatives, he named his Potomac River fishing boat “Miss ERISA.”

A 1949 graduate of the Loyola Uni-versity School of Law, Mr. Erlenborn had served in the Navy during World War II. He practiced law in Elmhurst with William J. Bauer, now a federal judge, and both later were assistant DuPage County state's attorneys.

Mr. Erlenborn served eight years in the Illinois House of Representatives, and was in Congress from 1965 until 1985. He joined the Washington, D.C., office of Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather & Geraldson in 1984.

He also was a member of the not-for-profit Legal Services Corp. board under two U.S. presidents and was its interim president for two years.

Peter Bakakos

Retired Cook County judge Peter W. Bakakos died Nov. 3 at age 79. A 1951 graduate of The John Marshall Law School who served in the Army during World War II, he was a past president of the Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois.

Mr. Bakakos left private practice in 1961 to become a partner in Economos, Alexander & Bakakos. He was a justice of the peace from 1961 to 1965 and a magistrate from 1965 to 1971.

Appointed as an associate judge in 1971, Mr. Bakakos was elected to the circuit court in 1978 and retired in 2002. He was a former vice president of the Illinois Judges Association.

He also was a past president of the Pan-Laconian Society and the Chicago Surety Claims Association, and a founder of SS. Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church.

Bernard Beller

Retired Chicago personal injury attorney Bernard E. Beller died Oct. 11 at age 86 of prostate cancer in the Northwestern Palliative Care and Home Hospice.

A 1948 graduate of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Mr. Beller was a Navy lieutenant during World War II. He retired in 1991.

Thomas Clydesdale

Oglesby attorney Thomas Ries Clydesdale, a retired 13th Circuit judge and past president of the LaSalle County Bar Association, died Sept. 11 at age 92 in Illinois Valley Community Hospital, Peru.

A 1938 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Mr. Clydesdale served in the Army Tank Corps in Europe during World War II and was a captain in the Judge Advocate General's Department.

In addition to his law practice, he was city attorney for Oglesby, Utica and Troy Grove until 1958, when he became a probate judge. He helped form the Utica and Dimmick-Peru Fire Protection Districts and served on the Oglesby and Lostant Fore Protection District boards.

Mr. Clydesdale became an associate judge in 1964 and a circuit judge in 1970. He was chief judge of the 13th Circuit from 1070 to 1973, and he left the bench in 1980.

A partner in Clydesdale & Ferracuti who worked until two days before his death, Mr. Clydesdale served on the boards of the First National Bank of Oglesby, the Community Bank of Utica, the Pure Silica Sand Co. in Ottawa and People's Hospital in Peru.

Gregoria DeBartolo

Former Aurora attorney Gregoria “Lillian” Internaldi DeBartolo, an active member of the Illinois bar, died Oct. 14 at age 85 in her Naples, Fla., home after several strokes.

A 1943 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, Mrs. DeBartolo and her husband Oliver Samuel DeBartolo, a former assistant Kane County state's attorney, maintained the firm of DeBartolo & DeBartolo until 1990, when they moved to Florida.

Mrs. DeBartolo was a supporting member of the Naples Fine Art Society, Opera Society, Museum of Art, and Philharmonic.

Mr. DeBartolo died in 1998. A daughter, Louise J. DeBartolo, who practiced with the firm, also died. An attorney son, Michael DeBartolo, survives.

John Dreyer

Aurora attorney John Edward Dreyer died Oct. 2 at age 76 in his Sugar Grove home. He was of counsel to Dreyer, Foote, Streit, Furgason & Slocum, the firm he was a co-founder of in 1963.

A 1953 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, Mr. Dreyer served for three years in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps before entering practice in 1956 with Sears & Streit in Aurora and Chicago.

A member of the Society of Trial Lawyers, he served on the ISBA Assembly from 1972 to 1978. He retired from active practice in 1994 and often visited his other home in Vieques, Puerto Rico.

Jesse Eschbach

Jesse E. Eschbach, a retired senior federal judge, died Oct. 25 in Florida, one day before his 85th birthday. A 1949 graduate of the Indiana University School of Law, he served as a Navy lieutenant junior grade during World War II.

A practicing attorney and prosecutor in Indiana, Mr. Eschbach was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana in 1962. He was chief judge for seven years.

In 1981, Mr. Eschbach was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. He took senior status in 1985 and retired in 2000. He received an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1985 from Indiana University.

Donald Hamilton

Chicago attorney Donald Hamilton died Oct. 21 at age 80. A 1950 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, he was a former partner in the Melrose Park firm of Farnell & Hamilton.

Floyd Harman

Crystal Lake patent attorney Floyd Boberg Harman died Sept. 14 at age 92 of Alzheimer's disease at Sunrise Assisted Living of Willowbrook. A chemical engineer who graduated in 1948 from the Chicago-Kent College of Law, he was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1946.

Mr. Harman retired in 1978 as a general patent lawyer for International Harvester, now Navistar. He was a past president of the Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce and past justice of the Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity.

Richard Hart

Retired Chicago attorney Richard Foreman Hart died Oct. 26 at age 84 of prostate cancer in his Glencoe home. He was a partner in trusts and estates with Mayer, Brown & Platt for 30 years. He was treasurer of the North Shore Mental Health Association.

A 1950 graduate of Harvard Law School, Mr. Hart was an Army Signal Corps tech sergeant during World War II in New Caledonia, South Pacific.

Jacques Heilingoetter

Retired Cook County judge Jacques Francis Heilingoetter died in October at age 80. A 1951 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, he returned to a Chicago practice in arbitration and mediation after leaving the bench.

Survivors include a two sons: Jacques F. Heilingoetter Jr. of Heilingoetter & Associates, Harwood Heights, and assistant Cook County state's attorney Robert F. Heilingoetter.

Kenneth Koutsky

Former Chicago attorney Kenneth Frank Koutsky died Oct. 26 at age 79 in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he practiced and remained active in the Illinois bar.

A 1951 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, Mr. Koutsky was a Navy signalman during World War II. He was a partner in Koutsky, Boudreau, Lassen & Mason until 1998.

Owen Lierman

Retired Springfield attorney Owen Donald Lierman, a Quincy resident, died Oct. 16 at age 80 in St. Mary's Hospital, Rochester, Minn.

Mr. Lierman was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1951 after service as an Army Air Corps bomber navigator during World War II.

Frank Reicin

Chicago attorney Frank Edward Reicin died in October at age 94. He was a 1934 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law.

Maurice Rosenfield

Former Chicago attorney Maurice M. Rosenfield, who produced films in Hollywood and shows on Broadway, died Oct. 30 at age 91 of heart failure in his son's Lake Forest home. He was a 1938 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School.

Among his successful show business ventures were “Barnum” and “Singin' in the Rain” in New York and London, and the film, “Bang the Drum Slowly,” starring then unknown actor Robert De Niro.

A. J. Rudasill

Clinton attorney A. J. Rudasill, a partner in Taylor, Kuntz & Rudasill, died Sept. 17 at age 85 in Decatur Memorial Hospital.

A 1947 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, Mr. Rudasil had served during World War II on Guadalcanal and Guam with a Navy Construction Battalion and a Marine Amphibious Division.

He was Dewitt County state's attorney from 1948 to 1952, and a special assistant Illinois attorney general in condemnations from 1960 to 1968.

Mr. Rudasill was a founder of the Clinton Community Association and a former member of the school board and YMCA board.

Robert Shapiro

Former Chicago attorney Robert Ben-jamin Shapiro died Octo 5 at age 93 in Mill Valley, Calif. A 1935 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, he was hired for $5 per week and practiced labor relations law for five years.

In the Army during World War II, he argued a case in the U.S. Supreme Court in uniform, received a mechanical engineering degree at Rutgers University, and retired as a major.

Returning to Chicago, Mr. Shapiro created Associated Business Consultants, took over the Transo Envelope Co. and became president of the Envelope Manufacturers Association of America.

He also helped found the Gestalt Institute of Chicago, the Oasis Growth Center, the Alan Watts Society for Comparative Philosophy, and the International Human Learning Resources Network. He received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from the Saybrook Graduate School.

Edward Simcoe

Retired Chicago attorney Edward Francis Simcoe (Szymko) died in October at age 90. He was a 1952 graduate of the Loyola University School of Law.

A member of the International Typographical Union for 60 years, he worked for Triangle Publications for 36 years.

Donald Vonachen

Retired Peoria attorney Donald Francis Vonachen diedOct. 6 at age 80 in the OSF Saint Francis Medical Center emergency room. He was of counsel to Vonachen, Lawless, Trager & Smith.

A 1950 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, Mr. Vonachen served in the Army infantry service in Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge.

He practiced with Young, Frederick & Rutherford from 1952 until 1958, when he became a founding partner of his own firm. He retired in 1990 as senior partner.

A Charter Fellow of the Illinois Bar Foundation, he was honored last August as a Pillar of the Bar by the foundation and Peoria County Bar Association.

Mr. Vonachen was a former city councilman, the first chair of the Peoria Civic Center Authority and the Catholic High Schools Advisory Board, and the first president of UPGRADE, a minority housing organization.

Among the many boards he served on were Prospect National Bank, the Peoria Community Foundation, Central Illinois Health Services, Central Illinois Planning Corp., United Way and the Guardian Angel Orphanage.

Mr. Vonachen received a St. Thomas More Award from the Catholic Diocese of Peoria and an Augustine Award from the St. Augustine Community Fund for the Elderly.

He was the son of former Judge Francis Vonachen.

Daniel Walsh

Retired Chicago attorney Daniel Andrew Walsh died in November at age 67. A 1964 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, he was a former assistant vice president and assistant general counsel of CAN Insurance Companies.

Michael Warner

Chicago attorney Michael Allan Warner, a partner in Seyfarth Shaw, died Nov. 3 at age 64. He was a 1965 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School.

Mr. Warner wrote several chapters on labor and employment law issues for the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education and the BNA Corporate Practice Series.

Survivors include a son, Michael A. Warner Jr. of Franczek Sullivan, Chicago.

Leo Wrenn

Retired Cook County associate judge Leo F. Wrenn died Oct. 30 at age 80 of pancreatic cancer in his Rogers Park home. After Navy service during World War II, he graduated in 1948 from the Loyola University School of Law and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1949.

Mr. Wrenn practiced with the Illinois attorney general's office, Cook County state's attorney's office, the Board of Tax Appeals and Chicago Transit Authority before his appointment in 1984 to the bench. He retired in 1997.