Ralph Gabric, 72, past president of the Illinois State Bar Association who helped organize several legal aid foundations, died of cardiac arrest Thursday, Nov. 21, in GlenOaks Hospital in Glendale Heights.
During his tenure as president, Mr. Gabric stressed the idea of pro-bono service and providing legal aid.
“He was everything a lawyer should be in terms of service to the public,” said Stephen Anderson, a staff officer of the Illinois State Bar Association. “He stressed to all of them that they should provide community service. He was a tremendous ambassador of goodwill.”
As president of the DuPage County Bar Association in 1981, he initiated a policy that required lawyers to provide pro bono work to become members of the association. That led to the creation of the DuPage County Legal Aid Foundation.
“He was a person who cared about the lawyers and the people he represented,” his law partner, Christine Ory, said. “He often said he loved attorneys. He was famous for saying that.”
For 18 years, Mr. Gabric served in the state bar association assembly. He was on the board of governors from 1987 to 1991 and in 1993 was elected third vice president. He was president of the association in 1996-1997.
He was also a member of the board of directors of the Illinois Bar Foundation and received the Foundation Fellows Award for Distinguished Service to Law and Society in 1999.
As a director of a legal aid hot line that connects 28 agencies in Cook County, Mr. Gabric co-chaired its annual campaign fund. Mr. Gabric was also a charter member of the DuPage County chapter of the Justinian Society, a society of lawyers with Italian heritage, and a founding member of the Illinois State Bar Association Mutual Insurance Co.
“The legal community lost a real friend in Ralph,” said Donald Ramsell, current president of the DuPage County Bar Association. “He was a great leader…who set an example of how a professional should behave.”
Mr Gabric was born in Chicago. He graduated from Calumet High School and later received a bachelor of science in premedicine from Bradley University. He decided to go to John Marshall Law School while clerking at a downtown law firm. Shortly after he graduated from law school, he was drafted into the army and served in the judge advocate general office.
Following his discharge, he returned to Chicago to work for Liberty Mutual Insurance as a trial attorney. After several years he joined the law firm of Peffer, Becker and Gabric in Chicago. In 1984, he started his own practice, Ralph A. Gabric and Associates in Wheaton, after discovering a need for attorneys in worker’s compensation cases, said his wife of 41 years, Joan.
In 1993, he formed Gabric, Millon and Ory, Chtd., in Wheaton.
A cancer survivor who had a lung removed when he was 47 years old, Mr. Gabric was a strong supporter of the Wellness House, a cancer support center in Hinsdale, and served on its board of directors. He was also a board member of the B.R. Ryall YMCA as well as a former Glen Ellyn trustee and member of the Glen Ellyn Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals.
“Part of his persona was that everything is possible, and he proved it with the help of God,” his wife said.
Other survivors include two sons, Ralph and Jonathon; a daughter, Rebekah; his mother, Zorka; a brother, Robert and five grandchildren.
Services will begin at noon Saturday in St. Petronille Catholic Church, 420 Glenwood Ave., Glen Ellyn.
