Herman Carl Runge, Jr. (Carl) of Collinsville passed away on December 31, 2016 surrounded by his wife and daughters.

Carl was born on September 27, 1932 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin to Herman Runge, Sr. and Clara Hertzberg Runge. He attended St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin, received his B.A. from Grinnell College and law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School.

He was a lieutenant in the Air Force serving during the Korean War. After the war, he worked as an air traffic controller before earning his law degree. During law school, he sailed on Lake Mendota by day and he lived above and worked in a bar by night to pay for his tuition. From 1962-1968, Carl served as an attorney examiner working in the Administrative Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. After Bobby Kennedy became the Attorney General, he became one of the "Irish Mafia," a group of 12 lawyers who would travel three months at a time for Kennedy and then return to Washington, D.C. for three months.

He enforced federal civil rights laws as a special assistant in New Orleans, advocating for the first women and African Americans to be allowed on federal juries. He also worked in Jackson, Hattiesburg and Oxford, Mississippi, as well as Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma, Alabama including representing freedom riders when they were arrested

In 1964, he married Marla Case of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin in Memphis, Tennessee and together they lived in Detroit, St. Louis, Birmingham, New Orleans, Miami and the Canal Zone in Panama. He then served as a U.S. Attorney in Springfield from 1968-1970. He practiced law in Collinsville for 40 years, opening his own practice in 1976, retiring in 2016, serving generations of families in Madison, St. Clair and Bond Counties. Carl's work also included representing the Collinsville Township for the last 12 years of his life.

He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Marla; his daughters, Robin Runge, and Sarah Runge both of Washington, D.C.; his son-in-law Joseph Thornton, and his two grandchildren, Alexandra Runge Thornton and Jack Runge Thornton; his sister, Jeanne Davis, and his brother-in-law, Warren Davis of Tucson, Arizona. Services have been held.