Princeton attorney Gregory R. Bowman died Sept. 9 when his motorcycle veered off the road near Stockton and careened into a tree. He had driven to Galena to break the 20,000-mark on his Honda Gold Wing and was on his way home.

Mr. Bowman, 53, was a dedicated member of the Illinois chapter of Patriot Guard Riders, an organization of cyclists who attend military funerals to shield grieving families from political protests against war.

He and other members attended services in May 2006 for Army Capt. Shane Mahaffee, a Waukegan lawyer who was mortally wounded in Iraq when a roadside bomb was detonated under his vehicle (ISBA Bar News, June 2006).

A lawyer since 1991, Mr. Bowman until 1987 operated a farm in Polo that had been in his family since 1872. Economic circumstances caused him to consider another career.

With his wife and three daughters, he entered law school at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and worked toward his degree for four years. He practiced briefly with an Arkansas firm in 1991 before returning to Illinois and being admitted to the bar the next year.

Mr. Bowman was appointed to the ISBA Agricultural Law Section Council in 1995 and was its chair in 1999-2000. He termed off in 2001 but had been reappointed.

In a resolution adopted Sept. 15, the Agricultural Law Section Council praised him as “a respected and valued member (who) served his profession with integrity, honesty, ability, humor and distinction.”

In addition to involvement with the Patriot Guard Riders as senior ride captain, Mr. Bowman's community activities included helping organize the annual Shadows of the Blue and Gray Civil War Re-enactment and serving as provost marshal for campground events.

Bureau County Sheriff John Thompson commented on his enthusiasm and respect for clients and colleagues. “He had a heart of gold and cared about other people,” he said.

Also a regular contributor to the ISBA's online discussion group, Mr. Bowman was known as one of the most helpful in responding to practice questions.

“He often answered me personally with a very well thought out e-mail, and a few times a phone call,” one member recalled. “Most importantly, he was always very encouraging and supportive.”

Mr. Bowman was lead defense counsel in a recent federal court case against a Lockport farmer that was featured in the August issue of the ISBA Bar News.

The farmer was sued by a bank that had been assigned the accounts of a failed grain elevator business. The owners had traded grain futures in excess of the quantity that existed.

Mr. Bowman, along with ISBA Assembly member Robert “TJ” Thurston and Agricultural Law Section Council vice chair John W. Damisch, won a verdict for the farmer.

Hollis William Benjamin, president of the Peoria County Bar Association in 1983-84, died Aug. 29 at age 81 in his home. A 1954 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, he received the Harker Award for highest grade-point average.

A warrant officer in the Army National Guard who was on active duty from 1951 to 1853, Mr. Benjamin was assistant court secretary to Supreme Court Justice Joseph E. Daily from 1955 to 1966. After several years in solo practice, he joined Westervelt, Johnson, Nicoli & Keller a year before he retired.

Mr. Benjamin was president of the Bradley Federation of Scholars, secretary of the Central Illinois Estate Planning Council, and a board member of Peoria City Beautiful.

St. Louis attorney Daniel Dismas Bennett, who was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1999, was found dead Sept. 20 in his locked Carondelet apartment at age 48.

Previously with Rabbitt, Pitzer & Snodgrass and Boggs, Boggs & Bates, Mr. Bennett had been handling cases for another St. Louis firm. He was a former colleague of Ernest F. Brasier, who was murdered Dec. 19 in his Boggs law office.

Highwood attorney James Holland Bradner Jr. died Aug. 16 at age 65 in Highland Park Hospital. A resident of Lake Forest, he was a volunteer for Prairie State Legal Services.

Admitted to the Illinois bar in 1979, Mr. Bradner had served in Army Intelligence from 1967 to 1969. He was general counsel of the Realtime Software Corp. and assistant counsel of the Alliance of American Insurers.

Mr. Bradner chaired the East Skokie Drainage Commission and served on a local school board.

Retired 18th Circuit associate judge Philip John Robert Equi Jr. of Wheaton died in September at age 85. He was a 1949 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law.

Retired Chicago attorney Eugene Joseph Farrug died Sept. 17 at age 79 in Rochester Hills, Mich. A 1958 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, he served in the Merchant Marines during World War II and was a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve until 1970.

A former partner in McKenna, Storer, Rowe, White & Farrug, Mr. Farrug was a member of the Federation of Insurance and Corporate Counsel and an arbitrator for the Defense Research Institute and Cook County Circuit Court. He served on the ISBA Tort Law and Insurance Law Section Councils.

Mr. Farrug was past president of Citizens of Greater Chicago and the Kiwanis Club of Hinsdale.

George William Fawcett Jr., a 1953 graduate of the Loyola University School of Law, died Sept. 15 in Delray Beach, Fla. A member of the Mercantile Exchange from 1955 to 1997, he was not registered to practice law.

Retired Cook County associate judge Jerome Garoon, a Lincolnwood attorney, died in September at age 87. A 1947 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, he had served in the Army during World War II.

A partner in Garoon & Watt for eight years, Mr. Garoon was appointed to the court in 1983. He was past president of the Council of Jewish Synagogues and an honorary lifetime president of the Lincolnwood Jewish Congress.

Stanley James Gilbert, an attorney in the Peoria office of the U.S. Social Security Administration since 1990, died Sept. 20 at age 62.

A 1973 graduate of the Catholic University of America Law School, Mr. Gilbert worked for the Bureau of Affairs in Washington, D.C., for several years. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1989.

Rodney Hilton Grove, formerly of Peoria, died Sept. 3 at age 68 in Evansville, Ind., where he had practiced since graduating in 1963 from the Indiana University School of Law. He was inducted into the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.

Chicago attorney Mitchell Cohen Macks, formerly Max Mitchell Cohen, died in September at age 94. He was a 1939 graduate of The John Marshall Law School.

Retired Bloomington attorney Robert Markowitz died Sept. 6 at age 81 at Heritage Manor in Normal. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School, he was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1952.

Mr. Markowitz was an Army combat infantryman during World War II in the Ardennes and Rhineland campaigns, and was wounded three days before his 19th birthday. He received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals.

After four years of solo practice in Bloomington, Mr. Markowitz became a partner in Campbell, Markowitz, Lawrence & Lenz. He was city attorney for Bloomington and corporation counsel to Normal.

He served on the boards of the OSF St. Joseph Community and the YMCA.

Retired Chicago patent lawyer Dugald Stewart McDougall died Sept. 15 at age 91 in Haines City, Fla. A 1937 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, he enlisted in the Navy during World War II.

The Navy sent Mr. McDougall to Harvard University to learn about radar, and later assigned him to the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., as patent counsel.

Returning to Chicago in 1948, Mr. McDougall practiced with McDougall, Hersh & Scott for 40 years before moving to Florida.

Retired Chicago attorney William Francis Scannell died Sept. 3 at age 83 at the Alden of Waterford in Aurora. A graduate of the University of Virginia Law School, he was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1949 after military service.

Mr. Scannell was in the Army Corps of Engineers at the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, and later attained the rank of lieutenant junior grade in the Navy Reserve.

After working at Archer Iron Works, a family business, he practiced with the Cook County Department of Transportation and was an assistant attorney general with the Medical Center Commission.

Mr. Scannell later had solo practices in Harvey and Blue Island. He was secretary of the Republican State Central Committee for 19 years.

Oakbrook Terrace attorney and certified public accountant Frank Steve Scarlati Jr., a Chicago resident, died in September at age 46. He was of counsel to Bishop, Rossi & LaForte, where he had practiced since graduating in 1987 from the Northwestern University School of Law.

Mr. Scarlati also was a principal and executive vice president of Oakbrook Companies in St. Charles, operator of Pheasant Run Resort, and principal and president of the Chicago-based Oakbrook Ventures.

He served on the advisory board of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center and was a director of the Tom Russell Charitable Foundation.

Schaumburg and Streamwood attorney Ronald E. Shadle died in September at age 57. He was a 1976 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law.

Chicago attorney Gay Lloyd Edward Smith died Sept. 17 at age 67. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1983.

Urbana attorney Michael Tepper died Aug. 19 at age 65 at the Meadowbrook Health Center. A 1966 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, he was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1967.

Mr. Tepper practiced in Urbana for 40 years with Tepper & Gwinn, Tepper, Mann & Ingersoll, and Tepper, Mann & German. He was past president of Sinai Temple.

Retired Navy rear admiral Alban “Stormy” Weber, formerly Joseph Weber, died Sept. 1 at Atlantic Shores in Virginia Beach, Va. Commander of a destroyer escort in the Pacific during World War II, he will be buried Oct. 24 with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

A 1938 graduate of Harvard Law School, Mr. Weber was former chief counsel and legal advisor to Northwestern University and head of the Federation of Independent Colleges and Universities in Illinois.