RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Ronald S. Miller, age 89, died, suddenly but peacefully, in Chicago on September 11, 2021; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago City Council has been informed of this occasion by Alderman Thomas Tunney of the 44th Ward: and
WHEREAS, Miller was born in Chicago September 28, 1931, to Ruth and Manuel Miller. Ron grew up in Albany Park and received his undergraduate (1953) and law (1955) degrees from the University of Illinois; and
WHEREAS, Ron served as a journalist in the Army from 1955 to 1957, stationed mostly in Germany, then began practicing law in 1957; and
WHEREAS, In 1961, he joined the firm co-founded by future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg. His association with the firm, now known as Miller, Shakman, Levine and Feldman, continued for 60 years, most recently as a retired partner; and
WHEREAS, Ron's focus was on real estate and hotel law, but he prized his pro bono work, especially in civil rights law, where he became a much-honored leader locally and nationally. Ron represented protesters arrested at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, then took leadership positions in the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Isaac Ray Center, the Center for Disability and Elder Law and other organizations; and
WHEREAS, Miller received many awards for his work. The Chicago Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy named him a Legal Legend. He won the first Edwin A. Rothschild Award for Lifetime Achievement in Civil Rights from the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. The American Bar Association gave him its Pickering Pro Bono Award; and
WHEREAS, He was most recently known for his Public Affairs Roundtable, which he began in retirement more than 25 years ago to bring notable speakers together with local leaders to discuss issues of the day. Speakers over the years included Barack Obama and other leading politicians, Nobel Prize winners, senators, journalists, architects and e...
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