John “Jack” Thomas Keleher - devoted husband, loving father, adoring grandfather, dear brother, uncle, cousin; friend of the less fortunate and oppressed; lover of nature, poetry, and history; compassionate, kind and gentle soul - passed away peacefully in his sleep on November 13, 2014.
Jack was born on October 29, 1923, the son of Irish immigrants Elizabeth J. Sampey and Patrick J. Keleher. He grew up in Chicago and was the oldest of three brothers, Francis, James (Joan), and Patrick (Joan), who predeceased him, and one sister who survives him, Sr. Jean Keleher, CSC. Jack was married to the love of his life, Dorothy Agnes Catalano, for 67 years. They met when both were members of a Catholic youth group focusing on social justice. They married on May 24, 1947, at St. Giles Church in Oak Park.
Jack went to Our Lady Help of Christians grammar school and Quigley Preparatory Seminary. He served as an officer in the Navy during WWII after training at Notre Dame and Harvard. He graduated from Loyola University of Chicago in 1947 and Loyola Law School in 1951. He was a law professor at Loyola and Kent law schools, practiced law for 26 years, and served as a circuit court judge of Cook County for the last 16 years of his career. He helped establish and implement the Mandatory Arbitration Program in the Circuit Court of Cook County, and became its first supervisory judge in 1990.
