Bill Text: IL SR1057 | 2013-2014 | 98th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Mourns the death of Richard H. Parsons of Peoria.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2014-04-03 - Resolution Adopted [SR1057 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2013-SR1057-Introduced.html

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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;

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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.