Patent lawyer Francis Even headed ISBA section council

Retired Chicago patent litigator Francis Alphonse Even, a former River Forest resident and partner in Chicago’s oldest law firm, died May 25 at age 87. He was honored in 1999 as an ISBA Senior Counsellor.

After receiving a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois, Mr. Even served during World War II as an Army Corps of Engineers major in Europe and North Africa.

After the war, he was a test engineer for General Electric while studying law at night. He graduated in 1949 from the George Washington University Law School and joined the law firm that was founded in 1859 as Goodwin, Larned & Goodwin and eventually became Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery.

A past chair of the ISBA Patent, Trademark and Copyright Section Council, Mr. Even was a past president of the Patent Law Association of Chicago, a former American Patent Law Association board member, and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

A past president of the Northern District of Illinois Court Historical Association, Mr. Even served on the advisory board of the Illinois State Historical Society.

Recollections of his military experiences resulted in the authorship of two books: “The 10th Engineer Combat Battalion in the Second World War and Korea: A Photo History” and “The Impromptu LST Aircraft Carriers of the Mediterranean in World War II.”

Jack Horsley was a Laureate

Retired Mattoon attorney Jack E. Horsley was a Laureate of the ISBA Academy of Illinois Lawyers for only five weeks before his death on May 15 at age 92. Unable to attend the Laureate induction ceremony on April 8, he had been homebound for some time with cancer and recurring heart problems.

Chicago attorney Willis R. Tribler, a Laureate who nominated Mr. Horsley, called him “the sort of all-purpose lawyer who has become rarer and rarer in this age of specialization.”

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Rita B. Garman said he “personifies the lawyer as scholar,” and noted that among the many books he wrote was a history of his law firm, Craig & Craig, “which documents an entire era of legal practice in downstate Illinois.”

A 1939 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, Mr. Horsley was an Army judge advocate general in Europe during World War II, earning the rank of lieutenant colonel. He received the Purple Heart and Victory Medal. A past president of the Central Illinois Reserve Officers Association, he was an honorary brigadier general.

Mr. Horsley chaired the ISBA Grievance Committee and served on an Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission Review Board. He was a past president of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel, the Coles-Cumberland County Bar Association and the Mattoon School Board.

John Adams

Retired Quincy attorney John Ferguson Adams died April 8 at age 76 in Blessing Hospital. He was a former Adams County public defender and assistant state’s attorney.

After Army service in Germany from 1952 to 1954, Mr. Adams attended the Valparaiso University Law School and graduated in 1959.

He practiced in Centralia with State Rep. Fred Branson until 1962, when he joined the Quincy firm of Loos & Schnack. He later formed a partnership with Russell R. Goehl and retired in 2004.

Mr. Adams served on the Illinois Youth Commission and was legal adviser to the Department of Corrections Juvenile Division. He also was a member of the Mental Health Authority board.

Survivors include a brother-in-law, Loren E. Schnack and two nephews, Andrew C. Schnack III and Kent R. Schnack, all of the Schnack Law Offices in Quincy.

John Bellatti

Retired Jacksonville attorney John Edward Bellatti died May 19 at age 89 in his home. He had practiced with the law firm founded in 1876 by his grandfather, John A. Bellatti, until 1998.

A 1947 graduate of the Harvard Law School, Mr. Bellatti’s studies were interrupted by service as a Navy lieutenant in the South Pacific during World War II. He received a Silver Star and four Bronze Stars for combat duty in nine battles.

A past president of the Morgan County Bar Association, Mr. Bellatti also headed the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce and Jaycees and was a co-founder of the Jacksonville Area Industrial Development Corp.

He was treasurer of the Morgan County Fair Association and a board member of the Art Association of Jacksonville and the First National Bank. He received an Excellence Award in 2007 from the Chamber of Commerce.

Gerald Bolkema

Chicago attorney Gerald Keith Bolkema, a resident of Munster, Ind., died May 25 at age 53 of injuries suffered while riding his bicycle. He was a partner in Baker & McKenzie.

Mr. Bolkema was a 1989 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School.

Arthur Cichorski

Chicago attorney Arthur Francis Cichorski died in May at age 73. A partner in David & Cichorski, he was a 1959 graduate of The John Marshall Law School.

D. William Costello

David William Costello of Belleville, a retired 20th Circuit associate judge, died May 16 at age 84 in Memorial Hospital. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1956.

James Ford

James B. Ford, chief deputy in the Cook County circuit clerk’s electronic data management information services, died in May at age 49. A Glenview resident, he was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1985.

Serge Hantel

Chicago attorney Serge Hantel died May 27 at age 58. Despite a lifelong disability, he received a master’s degree with honors from Northeastern Illinois University and a law degree in 1986 from the DePaul University College of Law.

Florence Miller

Retired Chicago attorney Florence E. Miller  died in May at age 94. A 1942 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, she practiced with Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione and the Kimberly-Clark Corp.

Harold Miller

Champaign attorney Harold Arthur Miller died May 2 at age 85 at the Meadowbrook Health Center in Urbana. A 1950 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, he was a partner in Miller & Hendren.

Mr. Miller was an Army staff sergeant and special service officer in Europe during World War II. After the war, he remained in Europe to oversee construction as a finance officer for the U.S. State Department.

He became an associate in Filson & Williamson in 1951 and was named a partner in Filson, Williamson & Miller in 1954. He was counsel to the state in acquisition of land for Interstate 57 and represented several municipalities and school districts in Champaign County.

Mr. Miller served on the Urbana School Board from 1957 to 1969 and was a trustee of Parkland College from 1971 to 1991, including two terms as president. He was a founding board member of the Champaign County Development Corp., the Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation and the Christie Foundation.

Survivors include a son, Marc R. Miller, a partner in the Champaign law firm.

Robert Milnikel

Retired Chicago attorney Robert Saxon Milnikel, a Kenilworth resident, died Feb. 28 at age 81 in Des Plaines. A 1953 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, he was a partner in Peterson, Ross, Schloerb & Seidel and other firms.

Mr. Milnikel headed the Cliff Dwellers Foundation for several years.

John Myers

Naperville attorney and certified public accountant John Ashby Myers Jr. died in May at age 65. He was a 1971 graduate of the John Carroll University Law School.

Alyssa Pagano

Alyssa Pagano, a January graduate of The John Marshall Law School who had not yet been admitted to the Illinois bar, died May 8.

Ernest Pool

Retired Ottawa attorney Ernest Howard Pool Jr. died April 10 at age 80 in Illinois Valley Community Hospital, Peru. He was a 1949 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law

Mr. Pool was a combat Army infantry officer in Europe during World War II. He received a Purple Heart with an oak leaf cluster and a European Theater Medal with two bronze battle stars.

Beginning his law practice as an associate in his father’s firm, Hibbs, Pool & Langer, he later was a partner in Pool & Pool, Pool & Stockley, and Pool & Leigh before he retired in 1992.

Thomas Roche

Chicago attorney Thomas Francis Roche died May 29 at age 81 of a subdural hematoma in Hinsdale Hospital, where he had been hospitalized after a stroke. He was of counsel to Keeley, Kuenn & Reid.

An Army teletype operator in Austria during World War II, Mr. Roche attended the Loyola University School of Law on the GI Bill and graduated in 1955.

After working briefly at the LaSalle Bank, he joined the firm then known as Halfpenny, Hahn & Ryan and practiced there for his entire career.

Survivors include a son, Thomas Edward Roche, associate counsel to the same firm.

William Sachen

Retired Lake County attorney William Frederick Sachen of Lindenhurst died April 24 at age 77 in the Victory Lakes Continuing Care Center.

A 1958 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law after military service during the Korean War, Mr. Sachen was an assistant Lake County state’s attorney for many years in building and zoning matters.

Earl Shapiro

Chicago corporate executive and philanthropist Earl Shapiro, a 1964 graduate of the Yale University Law School, died May 26 at age 68. He clerked for a federal judge and practiced with a New York firm before returning to Chicago in 1967.

Mr. Shapiro was president of Maryland Cup until it was sold in 1983 to the Ft. Howard Corp. He then founded Prairie Packaging, which was sold to Pactiv Corp. in 2007.

Chair of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago in 2005, Mr. Shapiro and his family donated $10 million to the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. He and his wife endowed a gallery in the new modern art wing of The Art Institute of Chicago.

John Sherman

John Warrington Sherman, retired chief trademark counsel of Amoco, died May 3 at age 89 at the Lutheran Home in Arlington Heights. An honors graduate of the University of Baltimore Law School at age 20, he was the youngest person to be admitted to the Maryland bar.

After Army service as a first lieutenant during World War II, Mr. Sherman joined the American Oil Company. He relocated to Chicago in 1960 and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1961.

Davis Shute

David Shute, retired senior vice president and general counsel of Sears Roebuck, died May 17 at age 77 in his Chicago home of complications from Parkinson’s disease.

A 1959 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Mr. Shute had been a Navy lieutenant for three years. He practiced with Foley & Lardner in Milwaukee for 22 years.

In 1981, he joined Sears a general counsel to the Seraco Group, a real estate unit, and was admitted to the Illinois bar. He became the corporation’s top lawyer in 1987 and retired in 1996.

Stephen Smith

Stephen E. Smith, a faculty member of the Northwestern University School of Law, died May 1 at age 57 of brain cancer at the Rainbow Hospice Ark in Park Ridge. A graduate of the Washington University School of Law, he was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1976.

Mr. Smith became an adjunct professor at Northwestern in 2000 and was named a senior lecturer three years later. He taught international law and headed several civic and religious organizations.

Douglas Stevenson

Former Chicago attorney Douglas F. Stevenson, a Lisle resident, died April 15 at age 86 in Edward Hospital, Naperville, of a pulmonary embolism.

After World War II, Mr. Stevenson served in the Army Counter Intelligence Corps in Germany. Fluent in German, he helped track former Nazi leaders and recover official documents.

A 1949 graduate of the Harvard Law School, Mr. Stevenson practiced workers’ compensation law with Rooks, Pitts & Poust. In 1984, he became a partner in Stevenson, Rusin & Friedman.

He was executive director of the National Council of Self-Insurers, a trustee of the National Foundation for Unemployment Compensation and Workers’ Compensation. In the 1990s, he was appointed to the Industrial Commission of Illinois.

Mr. Stevenson chaired the Illinois Joint Employers Legislation Committee, served on the Illinois Crime Commission and was a past president of the Better Government Association.

Harry Strouse

Retired 19th Circuit judge and appellate justice Harry D. Strouse Jr. died March 6 at age 84. An Army cryptographer during World War II, he graduated in 1950 from the University of Michigan Law School.

Mr. Strouse was an assistant Lake County state’s attorney until 1958, when he joined a Waukegan law firm. He became an associate judge in 1966 and then was elected to the circuit court.

James Stuart

Retired Chicago corporate executive James G. Stuart died April 5 at age 76. A 1959 graduate of the Vanderbilt University Law School, he received a master of laws degree in taxation from New York University in 1961.

Mr. Stuart chaired the Field Communications Corp. board from 1977 to 1980 after five years as executive vice president. He served on the Grant Hospital board for 14 years and chaired its finance committee.

Charles Weiland

Former Chicago attorney Charles Hankes Weiland of Aurora died in May at age 87. A 1949 graduate of Harvard Law School, he practiced with Lord, Bissell & Brook until his retirement in 1984.

Mr. Weiland chaired the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission Inquiry Board.

Steven Wild

Steven Mitchell (Dziki) Wild of Lake Villa, an attorney and accountant for the Chicago office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, died April 30 at age 54 at the Condell Medical Center in Libertyville.

A 1979 graduate of the Valparaiso University Law School, he practiced briefly in Antioch before enlisting in the Army and later receiving an accounting degree at the University of Kentucky.