Defense Attorney Who Addressed Civil Rights Violations Dies at 92

A prominent Chicago defense attorney who lived most of his life on the North Shore passed away earlier this month.

Charles Pressman died of heart failure on October 2 at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital, according to the Chicago Tribune. He was 92.

Pressman co-founded Pressman & Hartunian, a Chicago law firm that specialized in consumer fraud, employment discrimination and civil rights violations cases in 1951 and later served as a director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“Charlie was, without question, one of Chicago’s leading attorneys in cases involving civil rights and civil liberties,” said Abner Mikva, former U.S. Congressman and chief legal counsel to President Bill Clinton.

Mikva, who was a classmate of Pressman’s at the University of Chicago, said Pressman “sought justice on every level.”

Pressman resided at Lake Forest Place retirement community for the last three-and-a-half years and had previously lived in both Highland Park and Wilmette.

more via the Chicago Tribune