A funeral service for Arthur N. Hamilton, 93, retired presiding judge of the Juvenile Court of Cook County, is Saturday, 11 a.m., at St. Mark United Methodist Church, 8441 S. St. Lawrence Ave., preceded by a one-hour visitation. Interment is at Oak Woods
A funeral service for Arthur N. Hamilton, 93, retired presiding judge of the Juvenile Court of Cook County, is Saturday, 11 a.m., at St. Mark United Methodist Church, 8441 S. St. Lawrence Ave., preceded by a one-hour visitation. Interment is at Oak Woods Cemetery, 1035 E. 67th St.
Hamilton, who died Dec. 25, was considered by the late Mayor Harold Washington as his “significant mentor” and once stated publicly that he felt “Art,” as he was called, should have been elected and not him. Judge Hamilton, during the time he was president of the Sixth Ward Democratic Organization, also mentored the late Mayor Eugene Sawyer when he was alderman of the 6th Ward.
Hamilton –– born Jan. 21, 1917 in New Orleans –– moved with his mother, step-father and two brothers to Chicago’s West Side during the Depression and in order to support their family dropped out of McKinley High School to work, but returned to graduate in 1936.
Three years later he married Mary Easter Carter and in 1942 they moved to Detroit where he attended Wayne State Univ. and served with the National Guard during world War II. At the end of the war, they returned to Chicago. He attended Chicago-Kent Law School, earned a Juris Doctorate degree and was admitted to the Illinois Bar.
He subsequently served as a member of the law firm of Blakely, Cooper, Crank and Perry, an Assistant States Attorney, Assistant Illinois Attorney General, the Chicago Park District’s First Assistant General Counsel where he played an integral legal role in the Chicago Bears’ move to Soldier Field, Associate Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Presiding Judge of the Neglected Calendar of the Juvenile Division and Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court which today still is the second largest in the nation.
In 1957 Judge Hamilton campaigned to become alderman of the 24th Ward on the West Side where Sears & Roebuck had its corporate headquarters.
Although unsuccessful in his bid to become alderman with his campaign slogan “Home Rule for the 24th Ward,” he garnered the endorsements of U. S. Sen. Paul Douglas and Dr. William R. Clarke, a close friend.
The organization later provided the framework and much of the senior staffing later utilized in the 1980s by Harold Washington in his successful bid for mayor.
During his tenure, Hamilton received numerous awards from the Chicago community, his peers and enjoyed teaching at the National College for Judges at the University of Nevada in Reno.
Throughout his career he held memberships in the Cook County Bar Association, National Bar Association and American Bar Association. In private practice he had as clients and law associates that included the likes of such luminaries as business magnet S.B. Fuller, founder and president of the Fuller Products Co., publisher of the New York Age and Pittsburgh Courier, head of the South Side Chicago NAACP, president of the National Negro Business League, and a prominent African American Republican, and the Hon. Edith Sampson, first African American female judge in the U.S.
In 1992 Hamilton retired at age 75 and for the remainder of his life enjoyed golf, traveling with his family, especially to Southern Oregon where his son resides.
His wife of 71 years preceded him in death in February, 2010 and he is survived by his son, Guy Sr.; a daughter, Lisa (Edward) Carter; and five grandchildren, Guy Jr., Thomas, Christopher and Alexia Hamilton and Kris Dawson.
The family wishes to thank Hamilton’s immediate care-giving staff, Catherine Brown, Patrice Barbee, Lanetta March, Parelee Shelly, Debra Shaw, Arnedia Calhoun, Anneice Carpenter and Florence Phillips, for its love and support. Memorial contributions can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org).
Copyright 2011 Chicago Defender
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