RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Honorable Dean Michael Trafelet has been called to eternal life by the wisdom of God at the age of 81; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago City Council has been informed of his passing by Alderman .Edward M. Burke; and
WHEREAS, Dean is survived by his wife, Louise, and three children from a prior marriage, Remy W. Trafelet (Missy), Theodore M. Trafelet (Lisa), Douglas A. Trafelet (Libby), seven grandchildren, and a stepson, Timothy 0. Stearns; and
WHEREAS, Born on February 1,1942, he was a resident of Chicago and Door County, Wisconsin, with his wife of thirty years, Louise Bronner Trafelet; and
WHEREAS, He graduated from Northwestern University and the University of Tulsa College of Law, where he was the runner-up for its Anchor Award of Achievement; and
WHEREAS, Dean rose to become a nationally known attorney and a founding partner of Schlegel & Trafelet and was one of the originators of the Agent Orange class action litigation, which resulted in one of the largest settlements at the time; and
WHEREAS, He successfully represented numerous railroads defending demands from the EPA, thus avoiding catastrophic rail disruptions throughout the country; and
WHEREAS, From 1984 to 1997, Dean served on the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, where, by special assignment, he presided over complex, toxic tort, product liability, and environmental cases; and
WHEREAS, Dean was an advisor to the State of Alaska on the 1989 Exxon-Valdez oil spill and was appointed by Governor Thompson to the Illinois Task Force on the Transportation and Handling of Toxic Materials; and
WHEREAS, In 1989, the Illinois Supreme Court re-appointed him to the bench to resume his docket of asbestos product liability cases, including the largest salmonella outbreak in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Upon his judicial retirement in 1997, he became a partner at Hedlund, Hanley & John until 2002; and
WHEREAS, Dean served by appointment of both the United States District and Bankruptcy Courts, as a trustee of multiple asbestos and pharmaceutical trusts and as the court-appointed Future Claims Representative of claimants in numerous
trusts, and he lectured at Northwestern University's School of Law and was Chairman of the Board of the Delaware; Claims Processing Facility and NextClaim Solutions; and
WHEREAS, Dean was a co-producer, business manager, and performer at the Chicago Bar Association's Christmas Spirits Show for twenty-three years, where his humor and imagination flourished; and
WHEREASi, To his beloyed family, Dean imparts a legacy of generosity, compassion, devotion to family and unwavering faith in Cod; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and the members of the Chicago City Council, assembled this fifteenth day of March, 2023, do hereby, commemorate Dean for his grace-filled life and do hereby express bur condolences to his family; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Dean Michael Trafelet
Edward M.«ffl«Ke Alderman, 11th Ward