John B. Roe, known as Jack, of Grand Detour, Illinois and Holmes Beach, Florida, died November 27, 2020, at the age of 78 from a very rare untreatable form of cancer known as Myelofibrosis.

He enjoyed horse racing, golf, reading and traveling. He attended Oregon, Illinois schools and graduated from Centre College of Kentucky in 1964. He attended American University, George Washington University, with political honors and the University of Illinois Law School 1967. He was elected Ogle County State's Attorney in 1968 and was the youngest state's attorney in Illinois history.

He taught Criminal Justice at Sauk Valley and Kishwaukee Colleges for 5 years. He was admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court in 1969.

He served two terms in the Illinois Senate 1973-1979. While in the Senate he sponsored the Illinois Campaign Disclosure Act requiring candidates for public office to disclose their contributors and their expenditures. He sponsored Governor Thompson's Class X anti crime bills providing for mandatory sentences for crimes of violence such as murder, armed robbery, rape, etc.

He sponsored the Horse Racing Act of 1976 completely revising the administration of horse racing in Illinois and the No Fault Divorce Act. He also obtained the money necessary to construct the Rochelle, Illinois overpass.

He was appointed Chief Justice of the Illinois Court of Claims by Governor Jim Thompson in 1979.

He was a member of the Rochelle Grade School Board Dist. 230 from 1982-84.

He practiced law in Rochelle from 1973-1995; first as JOHN B. ROE; then as ROE & MALLON; then ROE, MALLON & TESS.

He was Appointed Circuit Judge in 1995 by Illinois Supreme Court and was elected Circuit Judge in 1996.

After retiring as a judge in 2000, he was a member Governor's Commission to Revise and Rewrite The Illinois Criminal Code; a member of The Board of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, Illinois; served as faculty at Stetson University College of Law, St. Petersburg, Florida, Adjunct Professor; was a Certified Florida County, Circuit and Family Mediator; was a Certified Mediator U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida and U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois; was a Florida Bar Association Arbitrator and Mediator; was Certified Mediator and Arbitrator 12th Circuit, Florida and 15th Circuit, Illinois; was a Manatee County Florida Administration Hearing Officer; and was an arbitrator for New York and Nasdaq Stock Exchanges.

The Roe family has lived in Ogle County since 1837, his great grandfather John B. Roe was the first Doctor of Ogle County.

He is survived by his wife Phyllis of 47 years, who was his companion, love, best friend, and caretaker; son John B. "Ben" Roe IV (Irene) Roe, Grand Detour; step daughter Julie (Jim) Watt, Oregon, Illinois; grandchildren, John Benjamin Roe V and Mary Margaret Roe, Grand Detour; Justin Watt and Emma Watt, Chicago; Sister Ruth Roe Arth, San Francisco, California; and many nieces and nephews and extended family members.

He was preceded in death by Mother Jane Gilbert Roe, Father John B. Roe II.