Epilogue

When Chicago trial attorney Patrick William O'Brien was honored five years ago as an ISBA Senior Counsellor, he said: “I did what I planned to do - become active as a trial lawyer in a good firm with an atmosphere in which I could do some good and contribute to the world around me.”

The senior counsel of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw died Aug. 11 at age 78 of a heart attack while asleep in his Evanston home.

Doing “some good” included chairing the firm's Pro Bono Committee and the ARDC Hearing Board, and serving as president of the former Clients' Security Fund.

Remembered most of all was his understanding of the effect of alcoholism on professionals and his willingness to help colleagues as he had been helped through a 1985 intervention that ended his own dependency.

He showed his appreciation to the Lawyers' Assistance Program by serving as its president from 1998 to 2000 after two prior years as a vice president for finance. He received LAP's Carl Rolewick Award in 2001.

A 1950 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law who was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1951, Mr. O'Brien began his career at Bell, Boyd, Marshall & Lloyd before enlisting in the Air Force during the Korean War.

He was a captain in the Judge Advocate General's Department in Montana and later at Thule Air Base in Greenland, where he didn't see the sun for six weeks. His final assignment was as chief of the Military Justice Headquarters of the Northeast Air Command in Newfoundland.

Mr. O'Brien returned to Evanston and joined Mayer, Meyer, Austrian & Platt in September 1953. He was a partner from 1962 to 1994, concentrating in antitrust law and commercial litigation.

Retired federal attorney Gilbert Edward Andrews Jr., a 1948 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, died Aug. 11 at age 85 in Arizona, where he had lived since 1993.

An Army Air Corps gunner in the Pacific during World War II, Mr. Andrews began his legal career with the Civil Aeronautics Board in Washington, D.C., then was a trial attorney and appellate advocate for the Department of Justice for several years.

He was chief of the Tax Division's sections on appellate and court of claims practice, and became deputy assistant attorney general for tax matters. He received a Distinguished Service Award in 1980.

Former Illinois attorney Thomas Richard Benz died Sept. 5 in Palm Desert, Calif. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1949. Survivors include a son, Michael T. Benz of Chapman and Cutler, Chicago.

Retired railroad attorney Cornelius P. Callahan, a Lake Bluff resident, died Aug. 28 at age 77 in Connecticut. He was a 1959 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law.

Mr. Callahan was a trial lawyer for the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. before joining Lord, Bissell & Brook, where he became a partner and represented several transportation clients.

He formed his own Chicago firm, C.P.C. & Associates in 1984, the year he completed a term as president of the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel. He retired in 1995.

Mr. Callahan was the author of “The Search for Truth: An Introduction to the Jury Trial Process,” in 1997, and “The Ring Bear,” a children's fairy tale, in 2001. His third book, “The Seven Arts,” will be published soon.

Retired Chicago attorney Michael Ernst Carlson Sr., a 1950 graduate of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, died Aug. 29 in Mamaroneck, N.Y. He was former board secretary of Chase Manhattan Bank.

Retired Peoria attorney Wilbur Dale Dersch died July 28 at age 93 in his home. He was a former partner in Phillips, Middleton & Dersch.

Mr. Dersch was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1938 and practiced for more than 50 years. A veteran of service in the Army Air Corps Judge Advocates Office, he was an appeals agent for the draft board for 30 years.

Mt. Vernon attorney William Donald Hanagan died Aug. 16 at age 78 in St. Mary's Good Samaritan Hospital. A 1953 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, he was a founding partner in Hanagan & Dousman.

Survivors include two sons, Michael J. Hanagan and Steven F. Hanagan, both partners in the Mt. Vernon firm.

Retired St. Clair County attorney Gary Ronald Harter, a resident of Mascoutah, died Aug. 8 at age 52. A 1979 graduate of the Indiana University School of Law, he practiced for a year with a St. Louis aviation and admiralty law firm

Since 1980, he had been a law partner with his wife, Nancy R. Larson, in Harter & Larson, with offices in Belleville and Mascoutah.

Mr. Harter was a past president of the Mascoutah Chamber of Commerce and the St. John United Church of Christ Council. He was a Cub Scout master and a Boy Scout leader.

Retired Chicago attorney Edwin A. Hofeld died Aug. 11 at age 103. A 1925 graduate of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, he practiced in Chicago until 1978. He moved that year to La Mesa, Calif., but returned to Homewood in 2005.

Retired Chicago labor attorney James F. Hynan died Aug. 25 at age 93 in his residence at The Glen in Glenview. A 1935 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, he was a principal in Condon & Hynan until his retirement in 1994.

Mr. Hynan was outside counsel to Local 134 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for more than 35 years, and also was a Cook County Law Division arbitrator.

During World War II, Mr. Hynan commanded gun crews and communication personnel on merchant ships bringing supplies to allies in Europe on dangerous Murmansk and Persian Gulf runs. He received the Russian Commemorative Medal in 1995 for courage and personal contributions.

Later a Navy lieutenant commander with the legal department at naval air training bases in Texas, he was a defense counsel in general court martial cases.

A life member of the Chick Evans Scholarship Foundation, helping caddies obtain college tuition, Mr. Hynan was a past president of the Big Foot Country Club in Lake Geneva, Wis.

Former Chicago attorney and certified public accountant John George Melnyk died Aug. 20 in Rochester, N.Y., a week before his 53rd birthday.

A 1977 graduate of the Loyola Uni-versity School of Law, he was a tax at--torney for several corporations and an accomplished woodwind musician.

LaGrange attorney Robert Franklin Peck died Aug. 11 at age 66. A 1964 graduate of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, he was a former partner in Johnson & Peck, Western Springs.

Savannah, Ga., attorney Paul William Poticha, formerly of Chicago, died Aug. 3 at age 89 in Lawrenceville, Ga. Admitted to the Illinois bar in 1939, he joined the family business, Boston Shoe Stores, and also had a private practice.

Northbrook attorney Gerald Milton Rubin, formerly of Skokie, died in August at age 75. Admitted to the Illinois bar in 1954, he served 28 years in the Air Force Reserve, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

Former Chicago attorney and psychiatrist Ronald Shlensky died July 28 after being stuck by a car while walking a dog near his Santa Barbara, Calif., home.

A graduate of the Loyola University School of Law who was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1974, Mr. Shlensky had a degree from the University of Illinois Medical School and was a professor at the Northwestern University Medical School. He moved to California in 1979.

Mr. Shlensky was a Fellow of the American College of Forensic Psychiatry and founder of the American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry.

Retired Chicago trial attorney Charles Riggs Sprowl died Aug. 7 at age 95. A 1934 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School who was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1935, he was of counsel to Taylor, Miller, Sprowl, Hoffnagle & Merletti.

Mr. Sprowl served on the Chicago Bar Association Board of Managers from 1949 to 1951. In 1947 he chaired the CBA Entertainment Committee, which produces the annual Christmas Spirits show.

Palatine attorney Eugene John Volk died in August at age 75. A 1956 graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School who was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1961, he was a corporate lawyer for Bankers Life and Casualty Insurance Co. for 42 years.