SR1057 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR1057 LRB098 20766 MST 57842 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Richard H. Parsons of Peoria, who passed away on March 26, 2014; and

WHEREAS, Richard Parsons was born in McAlester, Oklahoma on June 9, 1936 to Alfred Richard and Veronica Cecilia Parsons; he graduated from Taylorville High School in 1954, where he participated in football, basketball, baseball, track & field, and tennis, for which he was elected captain of the first Taylorville High School varsity tennis team; he earned his Bachelor of Science from Bradley University in 1958 and married Catherine Logan on August 9 of that same year; he served in the United States Marine Corps PLC Program; and

WHEREAS, Tennis always played an important role in Richard Parsons's life; after graduating from Bradley University, where he continued to play tennis, he continued to play and win the Club and Bar Association mixed and men's doubles tournaments, including championships at the Mount Hawley Country Club, the Peoria Tennis Association, the Peoria Country Bar Association, and the Racquet Club of Peoria; he was 3-time winner of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Tournament and his home and office were filled with dozens of tennis and golf trophies; and

WHEREAS, Richard Parsons graduated from Washington & Lee College of Law in 1961, where he was business editor of the Washington & Lee Law Review and worked nearly a full-time schedule for The Lexington Gazette; he completed his post-graduate studies in constitutional law at Harvard Law School under its judges' program in the 1980s; and

WHEREAS, Upon graduating from law school, Richard Parsons worked for Chicago Title and Trust Company for 7 years, ultimately becoming the company's youngest officer and serving as one of its lobbyists in Springfield; in 1968, he moved to Peoria and entered private practice and shortly thereafter formed and owned the Bankers Title Company, an issuing agent for Pioneer National Title Insurance Corporation; during this time, he also served on the board of directors for the Peoria Heights Bank, the Illinois Crown Insurance Corporation, the Rock Island Title and Abstract Company, the Fairway Life Insurance Corporation, the Peacock Engineering Company, and Another Chicago Press Company; in the 1970s, he began to focus his private practice toward criminal defense work and often represented people without the funds to hire an attorney, and in 1995, he became the first federal public defender for the Central District of Illinois; he created the department from the ground up, retiring in August of 2011; and

WHEREAS, Richard Parsons was active in the Democratic Party; he was appointed by the Governor to the Illinois Capital Development Board, where he was instrumental in obtaining lights for Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois; he served as precinct committeeman and delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention, and in 1975, he was appointed by the Governor to the position of commissioner/trial judge for the Illinois Court of Claims, which he held for 20 years; and

WHEREAS, Richard Parsons continued to serve the law following retirement; in 1999, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals requested he take on the role of circuit appellate defender, litigating federal cases on appeal from Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana, and in that same year, he appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court in O'Sullivan v. Boerckel; in 2003, he added to his duties by serving as the acting federal public defender for the Southern District of Illinois, while continuing with the Central District of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, Richard Parsons was involved in numerous legal organizations, including the American Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the Peoria County Bar Association; he was a life-member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a 3-time chairman of the American Bar Association's Criminal Amicus Curiae Committee; he served for 7 years as director of the Illinois State Bar Association's Criminal Justice Council, as Amicus Curiae Chairman for 4 years, as past-President of the Clarence Darrow Inn of the American Inns of Court, and as past-President of the Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; in 2000, he was awarded the association's Lawyer of the Year Award, the first "downstater" to win; he also served a 2-year term on the Board of Directors of the Peoria County Bar Association and a 3-year term on the Illinois Capital Litigation Trial Screening Committee; he was listed in Marquis Who's Who in America; and

WHEREAS, Over the years, Richard Parsons taught at numerous seminars for the criminal defense bar; he was on the faculty for attorney training programs hosted by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the Defender Services Division of the United States Courts, the Federal Defenders in several districts, the Wisconsin State Bar Association, the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Indiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; and

WHEREAS, Richard Parsons authored a number of articles in several publications directed at criminal defense lawyers; additionally, he acted as editor of the nationally acclaimed newsletter "The Back Bencher" and he appeared on the cover of the September 1987 issue of the "National Law Journal", the 3rd quarter cover of the "Criminal Defense Quarterly", and the front page of the Peoria Journal star on at least 2 occasions; and

WHEREAS, Richard Parsons co-founded the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Peoria, serving as "parade chairman" for first one in 1981 and receiving the honor of being the grand marshal in 1984; he also helped organize the first Erin Feis Festival in Peoria and was co-founder of the local division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which was named the Richard H. Parsons Division in honor of his efforts to foster the growth and awareness of Irish heritage in Central Illinois, for which he served as the chapter's president; he also served as State director, board member, and officer of the State of Illinois's Ancient Order of Hibernians; he was director general of the Puff Club Foundation Trust and President of the Old Rumpolian Society; he was co-founder of the W.C. Fields Golf League and former board member of the Friends of Fatherless Boys and the Knights of Columbus, Spalding Council 427, Third Degree; he was also a member of the IVY Club of Peoria, the Union League Club of Chicago, and the Mount Hawley Country Club, where he scored his 2 holes-in-one, as well as winning the Managers's Cup; and

WHEREAS, Richard Parsons was a single-to-low digit handicap golfer at Mount Hawley Country Club and a champion at men's and mixed doubles tennis into his mid-60s; he continued to be a bibliophile and master crossword puzzler late in life; and

WHEREAS, Richard Parsons was preceded in death by his sisters, Helen Murphy and Mary Ann Caster; and

WHEREAS, Richard Parsons is survived by his wife, Catherine; his children, Karen Voss, Anne Muren, and A. Richard Parsons, II; and by his 8 grandchildren; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Richard H. Parsons, and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Richard Parsons as an expression of our deepest sympathy.