URBANA – Champaign attorney Robert G. Kirchner died on Sunday (April 17, 2011) at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana. He was 54 years old.

Private services will be held for his family at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 26, at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, 708 W. Main St., Urbana, with Father Joseph Hogan officiating. Burial will be in Mount Hope Cemetery in Urbana.

The family invites friends to attend a celebration of Bob's life at 4 p.m. Friday, May 20, at Kennedy's Stone Creek Banquet Center, 2560 S. Stone Creek Blvd., Urbana.

Bob was born on June 23, 1956, in Joliet, Ill., the eldest son of Robert and Margaret (Keyser) Kirchner, and grew up in New Lenox, Ill.

He attended Western Illinois University, where he earned a B.A. in philosophy and political science in 1976 and an M.A. in political science in 1977.

He met his wife Gerri at WIU and they were married in Park Ridge, Ill., on Aug. 25, 1979. Bob and Gerri began their marriage in Urbana, where Bob attended the University of Illinois College of Law, earning a J.D. in 1982.

He joined the Champaign law practice of Burt Greaves and Art Lerner, which became Greaves, Lerner and Kirchner, and later, Lerner and Kirchner.

In 2002, Bob opened his own law office in Champaign and was later joined by attorney Ruth Wyman. As a highly skilled trial lawyer, Bob was an intelligent advocate for his clients and was known for his dedication to the law. He was diligent in his research and his knowledge of the law was the foundation of his legal abilities.

He argued many cases before the Appellate Courts and the Illinois Supreme Court, winning several that established legal precedents. Bob championed many legal causes that other attorneys would not take on.

Bob's interest in the law prompted him to run as a Democratic candidate for state representative in 1996. He lost the election, but his campaign engaged public participation by hosting a series of monthly symposiums on key issues impacting state legislation, including education funding, crime, drug abuse and gun control, child welfare, women's rights, health care, employment laws, and campaign finance reform.

Bob later served on the Champaign County Board as the District 9 representative, appointed in 2001 and elected in 2002 to a two-year term. As a member of the board's Democratic majority, he voted to pass laws to guarantee a living wage for all full-time county employees, to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of race, gender or sexual orientation, and to establish free dental care for low-income children.

Bob chaired the county nursing home sub-committee and worked on the successful passage of the referendum proposal to fund its construction. He ran for election to the county board again in 2006 and lost a closely contested Democratic primary.

Bob served as Vice President of the Champaign County Bar Association from 1994 to 1995. In 1994, he helped establish Best Interest of Children, a local 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to child and family advocacy, and served on its board.

Bob was blessed with many friends and a loving family. He is survived by his wife of 32 years, Gerri; his sisters, Marlene (Dennis) Gallagher of Joliet and Lorrie (Robert) Chaplin of Macomb; brothers, John (Carol) Burkhart of Palm Coast, Fla., Ron (Laura) Kirchner of Dover, Tenn., and David Kirchner of Harbor City, Calif.; brother-in-law, Paul (Sue) Geissler of Palatine; sister-in-law, Shelly (Paul) Kotecki of Buffalo Grove; four nephews; and seven nieces.

Bob was an avid softball player for many years. He was also famous among family and friends for his delight in winning at everything, including volleyball, bocce ball, bowling, ping pong, bridge, hearts, pinochle, poker and games.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Best Interest of Children, 803 Kettering Park Drive, Suite 203, Urbana, IL 61801.

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Lincoln Way High School
New Lenox, IL

Class of 1974

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Life Remembered: Kirchner brought energy, passion to life's work
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 8:00am | Paul Wood

URBANA – Robert Kirchner is remembered as a tireless and passionate fighter in both political and legal circles.

Mr. Kirchner, 54, of Urbana died Sunday morning. Friends said he apparently had a heart attack.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete at Renner-Wikoff Chapel and Crematory, 1900 Philo Road, U.

"There will never be another Bob Kirchner in this town," said Linda Abernathy, who said he was the inspiration for her group Best Interest of Children.

"He was unique among the Champaign County Bar for how aggressive he was, what a bulldog he was," says fellow attorney Tom Bruno. "We lawyers have an ethical obligation to act in the best interests of our clients, and he would do anything to fulfill that obligation."

A former member of the Champaign County Board and of the Champaign County Public Health District board, Kirchner was a Democrat on the losing side of a split in his own party when he lost a second bid to the county board in 2006.

Former county board chairman Patricia Avery said he "leaves a void in the community, particularly for the under-served."

"He is an example of what I think a lawyer ought to be," says former law partner Blake Weaver. "He believed that our judicial system was the third branch of government, and ought to be treated with lots of respect, and he fought to give the law that respect."

He represented two men who claimed that Champaign police and Champaign County prosecutors violated their civil rights by stopping them from videotaping traffic stops in July and August 2004 and by seizing their camera and tapes. The county and city eventually settled with the two men.

Kirchner used every tool at his disposal, from a written argument to his voice in a political debate.

In 1996, Mr. Kirchner ran against incumbent State Rep. Timothy Johnson. A graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, he practiced law in Champaign County for more than two decades.

He represented District 9 on the county board from 2001 to 2004 first by appointment to fill a vacancy in 2001, and then by election in 2002 to serve a two-year term.

His wife Gerri is also very active in Democratic politics.

Former county board member Matthew Gladney said he learned a great deal from Mr. Kirchner.

"Sometimes we disagreed politically, but he was just standing up for his principles, and he always had a good reason," Gladney said.

Weaver said he considered his former partner a mentor.

"He was a true warrior. Bob worked harder than anyone I know; when you hired Bob, you got all of him. The causes he believed in, they had his full attention and energy," he said.

Fellow attorneys recalled that Mr. Kirchner had once sued over a call in a softball game.

"That was just his nature," Weaver said. "He believed everybody was supposed to be responsible for their actions. He called me on some of my decisions, too; we went round and round on a lot of things, but that never stopped us from being friends."

"That's emblematic of his passion for justice. He aggressively sought justice at every turn," Bruno said.

Avery said Mr. Kirchner did an "enormous" amount of work for her Champaign-Urbana Area Project.

"He was one of the great guys you can trust who will be there for you, a man of great honor and dignity," she said. "He had a lot of compassion for people, he was always there for the people who just did not have anywhere else to turn."

Abernathy agreed.

"His love for justice, his knowledge of the law, his commitment to the poor and needy and downtrodden there was no one else like him," she said.
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