Gill M. Garman, a prominent Danville attorney and husband of Chief Justice Rita B. Garman of the Supreme Court of Illinois, passed away on Saturday at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. He was 71.

Mr. Garman engaged in the practice of law for more than 45 years and was a senior partner at Kesler Nelson Garman Brougher & Townsley PC. He met his wife when they were both students at the University of Illinois and were married the year before they both graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1968.

A celebration of Mr. Garman's life will be held on Thursday, June 5, 2014, at 11 a.m. at St. James United Methodist Church in Danville with Rev. Randall Robinson officiating. Visitation will be held on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 from 2 to 8 p.m. at Sunset Funeral Home in Danville.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to St. James United Methodist Church, the Danville Public Library Foundation, the Danville Symphony Orchestra, or any charity of the donor's choosing.

View more at http://www.sunsetfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Gill-Garman/#!/Obituary

Jordan Jay Hillman, 89, died on April 8, 2014 after an eight-and-a-half-year journey with Alzheimer's. Born in Waukegan in 1924, he was known to friends and colleagues as "Jay." He served during World War II as an Army Air Corps navigator in the Eighth Air Force Unit and liked to reminisce about flying. He earned a Master of Arts degree in Political Science, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago and later received a Doctor of Juridical Science from Northwestern University. 

He was vice-president and general counsel for the Chicago and North Western Railway and joined the law school faculty at Northwestern in 1966. In 1975 he took a temporary leave from teaching and served as general counsel for the U.S. Railway Association. 

He pursued many social causes beyond his chosen profession and served on the Evanston school board as well as the CTA board and various boards related to the arts. He was strongly committed to humanitarian endeavors, expressing his deepest convictions and principles through both philanthropy and service. He was a lover of nature, animals, children, walking, and classical music, played the clarinet, and after retirement, joined a chamber group. 

During the last five years of his life, he lived in Oak Park and was surrounded by his loving family, friends, and caregivers. His book, The Torah and Its God: A Humanist Inquiry was published in 2001 and embodies his deep respect for scholarship, humanism, and Judaic history. 

Former ISBA Counsel Joseph P. Marto passed away on Feb. 28, 2014. He was born on March 18, 1938 in Great Falls, MT. After living in Shelby Montana, he was raised in Oregon and Washington finally settling in Sprague in Lincoln County.

He entered the seminary in 1954, and was ordained a priest for the diocese of Spokane in 1963, receiving his M.Div. Degree. He worked in several parishes until he became Diocesan Director of Religious Education. In 1971, he left the active ministry and married Rosemary Gaffney.

They moved to Chicago, where he attended The John Marshall Law School, receiving his J.D. degree in 1974 in the top 10 of his class. His legal career began in Springfield, IL as house counsel for the Illinois State Bar Association.

From there, he moved to various firms in Chicago, primarily as a trial attorney for insurance defense firms. He obtained a Real Estate Broker 's license in 1976, and owned several apartment buildings. He retired to McHenry IL in 1989, and began an active life of volunteering. He first organized a computer class for Seniors at McHenry Township and then became involved in the AARP Tax Aide Program preparing free taxes for Senior Citizens. He also ran a free legal aide program at Senior Services for several years.

After 15 years in the AARP Tax Aide program, he became ill in January and died on February 28, 2014. A memorial service will be held at the Church of Holy Apostles in McHenry on Thursday, March 6, 2014 with a gathering at the Church Chapel at 10:00 and Mass at 10:30. Joe is survived by Rosemary, his wife of 42 years, several cousins, and many nieces and nephews.

James A. Tidwell, chairman of the Journalism Department at Eastern Illinois University, died Saturday, April 12, following a 19-month battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 65.

A nationally recognized authority on the First Amendment and the student press, Dr. Tidwell taught communication law to hundreds of students in his 41-year career in higher education, including 27 years at Eastern. He was the author of Media Law in Illinois: A Reporter’s Handbook, among other works on the First Amendment and the press.

Gregarious and outgoing, Dr. Tidwell possessed a keen sense of humor. He was well known and liked at Eastern, where he was a past chairman of the Faculty Senate and the Council on Academic Affairs, and had been a board member of the faculty union, the University Professionals of Illinois Local 4100, and had served on the administration’s collective bargaining negotiating team.

Born July 6, 1948 in Oklahoma City to Ray and Maxine Davis Tidwell, he graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma Baptist University. He earned his master’s in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and graduated with a Juris Doctor cum laude from the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville.

He joined the faculty at Eastern in 1987 where he taught every class offered by the journalism department during his tenure and served as legal adviser to student publications.

He served as director of the Eastern Illinois High School Press Association (1988-2005) and as executive secretary of the Illinois Journalism Education Association (1989-2005.)