Robert F. Kemp, an Oak Lawn Patent Attorney and a Professor of Law at local universities, has died from esophageal cancer. He was 42. Kemp was born in Chicago in 1960 and attended Marist High School. He received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University, where he served as president of his class for his last three years of college. After spending a year in France on a Rotary Foundation scholarship, he returned to the United States to earn his law degree from the University of California – Berkeley. During his time at Berkeley, Kemp was awarded a fellowship by the English-Speaking Union to study in England for one year. Following graduation from law school, Kemp earned additional degrees from Northwestern, The University of Chicago, and The John Marshall Law School. Along with two colleagues, Kemp wrote a book on careers in international law, which was published by the American Society of International Law. Kemp served as a law clerk for the Federal Appellate Court in Chicago. He subsequently entered the private practice of law, practicing first with a large patent firm and then a smaller patent firm. He established his own patent law practice in 1994, based in Oak Lawn. Kemp served local, national, and international clients in a specialty law practice. In 2000, he received an award for his charitable legal work on behalf of entrepreneurs in the South Suburbs. He also served as an adjunct professor law at The University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and The John Marshall Law School. He is survived by his wife, Susan, an assistant professor of Indiana University (Northwest Campus); along with two brothers and a sister, all attorneys; and his mother. Visitation will be Tuesday, 2 to 9 p.m. Funeral Wednesday, 9:45 a.m. from the Andrew J. McGann & Son Funeral Home, 10727 S. Pulaski Rd., to St. Germaine Church in Oak Lawn for 10:30 a.m. Mass. Interment Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Scholarship Fund, Center for Intellectual Property Law at The John Marshall Law School. 773-783-7700 or 708-423-5400.
