Judge George N. Leighton passes away, aged 105

Photo obtained from linked Sun-Times story

George N. Leighton, the man for whom the Cook County Criminal Courthouse has been named, has died at the age of 105.

A former Cook County Circuit Court judge, and the first African-American to sit on the Illinois Appellate Court, Leighton was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1976. He took senior status on the court in 1986 and returned to the private practice of law in 1987, retiring, finally, in 2011, at the age of 99, from the law firm now known as Neal & Leroy.

Cook County Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans has issued a statement concerning the passing of Judge Leighton:

“I join the legal community in mourning the passing of our friend and my former law professor, George N. Leighton. He served the public in many ways as a Circuit Judge, an Illinois Appellate Justice and a U.S. District Court Judge.

“Judge Leighton came to Chicago in 1946 at a time when an African-American man could neither rent an office downtown nor hail a taxi in the Loop. He made a name for himself as an attorney who fought for voting rights, integrated schools, fair housing and equal access to jury service.

“His fierce advocacy even led to a grand jury indictment against him, in which he was accused of conspiring to incite a riot after an African-American family tried to move into a white neighborhood. Thurgood Marshall represented Mr. Leighton, and the charges were dismissed.

“This is the courage we celebrated when we renamed our criminal courthouse as the George N. Leighton Criminal Court Building in 2012. That day, he said, ‘I practiced law. That’s all I did.’ Well, we all know it was so much more. And we will always remember the man who made it his mission to make sure that the law was equally applied to all.”

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A graduate of Howard University and Harvard Law School, Leighton was a veteran of World War II, rising to the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army.