Wake and funeral arrangements announced for Mike McGowan

A lot of current and former Cook County judges will remember Mike McGowan, if only from their new judge orientations. Mike concluded his public career some years ago now, working as the technology guru in the Office of the Chief Judge. He was brought into that position by former Chief Judge Donald P. O'Connell; he remained in that position for a number of years after Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans succeeded O'Connell.

There was a time, and it was not that long ago dear Millennial and Zoomer readers, that having someone testify at a trial from a remote location was a really big deal, and making that happen when it needed to, was one of the things that Mike did in that job.

I knew Mike for well over 40 years, since he was a freshman at Loyola University. We roomed together for a time before I got married. We stood up to each other's weddings. He and his wife Sheri are godparents to my son Joe, and as much an aunt and uncle to all of my children as if they were blood kin. Some years ago he made me promise that, if he died before I did, I would not tell any stories that would embarrass him.

But he might allow me to tell this one on the grounds that FWIW readers, especially those who remember Mike, may think it amusing: Mike began his public career in the Clerk of the Circuit Court's office. In the 1980s the Clerk's computer operations were located in CL25, below the Daley Center. Mike rose quickly through the ranks in that office, starting (if I recall the title correctly) as a burster. By the time Clerk Morgan Finley was indicted, Mike was sufficiently senior that he became the person designated to furnish the U.S. attorneys with whatever information that might be required. Mike did not undertake this task with a view to helping or hurting anyone. He did it because he was assigned. He was a creature of duty, determined to do that which he was supposed to do as promptly and efficiently as possible. Mike expected to be called as a prosecution witness at trial to authenticate the records produced, and he thought he'd developed a friendly rapport with the AUSAs who would put him on the stand.

He called me as soon as he could after he got away from the Dirksen Building. "Lawyers are SCUM!" he thundered. Apparently the federal prosecutor who called him did not want any juror to think well of any public employee, lest some of that good feeling transfer to Mr. Finley, and when he grilled Mike, Mike truly felt betrayed.

Mike's anger on that occasion, though both justified and understandable, was entirely out of character. Generally, he knew everyone. He remembered everyone he met. More importantly, that one little incident excepted, he got along with everyone. He was a connector person, an important part of a thousand groups. Think Six-Degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon, but from the South Side instead. Mike was always an organizer, bringing people together. In trying to put this remembrance together I naturally wanted a proper portrait-like photo. But Mike was almost always pictured in group shots -- with family, with friends, with fellow volunteers at the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation (NOAH), or the New Hope Food Pantry, or (more recently) the Global Albinism Alliance. It was from the Alliance that I had to grab the photo here.

Mike was one of those people the BGA never mention when they carp about public pensioners: He didn't 'double dip.' He earned his pension, and with the freedom that this gave him, devoted a productive retirement to the betterment of persons with albinism. Only illness and, now, death could deter him from these pursuits.

The wake for Mike McGowan is set for Friday, November 29, from 3:00 to 8:00 p.m., at Gibbons Family Funeral Home, 5917 W. Irving Park. The funeral Mass will be Saturday, November 30, at 10:00 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Church, 7211 W. Talcott. Internment will be at Union Ridge Cemetery, 6700 W. Higgins. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Global Albinism Alliance.