John J. Lyons, 98, an Illinois Appellate Court judge from 1964 to 1972, died Saturday, Feb. 7, in the Moorings Health Center in Arlington Heights from complications of a circulatory problem.
Born in Chicago to Irish immigrant parents, Judge Lyons graduated from St. Mel High School and entered the prelaw program at Loyola University. He transferred to the University of Notre Dame, from which he graduated. After he received his law degree from Notre Dame, Judge Lyons returned to Chicago and received his law license in 1930.
“He was probably one of the most loyal Notre Dame alumni in the country,” Cody said. “St. Patrick’s Day was practically a holy day in our house.”
Although he was raised in a staunch Democratic Party family, Judge Lyons turned to the Republican Party in his early 20s and entered politics. In 1930, he became a precinct captain of the 37th Ward. He went on to become the president of the Young Republicans of Illinois and served as Republican committeeman of the 37th Ward for two terms.
During that time, he worked as a trial lawyer for the United States Mutual Insurance Co. and the Illinois Automobile Club.
His first judicial venture was in 1944, when he led the Republican ticket for judges. He lost that race, but two years later he was appointed an associate probate judge of Cook County.
“He was very active in politics,” said his nephew Ronald Cody, whom the judge and his late wife, Edna, raised since he was 4 years old. “He fought the system and rose all the way to become a judge, and he wasn’t a Democrat in a city filled with them.”
In 1953, he served on the state’s pardon and parole board. That same year, he was elected to the Superior Court of Cook County. From 1958 until his election in 1964 to the Illinois Appellate Court, Judge Lyons was chief judge of the law division. He was appointed to the state’s narcotics commission twice and served on the board of directors of the Illinois Circuit and Superior Judges Association.
Judge Lyons and his late wife, whom he married in 1934, lived in Chicago most of their married life until 1972, when they moved to Elmwood Park. In 1990, they moved to Arlington Heights.
Other survivors include his sister, Mary Doyle, and many nieces and nephews.
Visitation will take place from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in Hursen Funeral Home, Roosevelt and Mannheim Roads, Westchester. Services will begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the funeral home, followed by a 10 a.m. mass in Divine Infant Church, Newcastle and Canterbury Streets, Westchester.
