For more than 150 years, the Alschuler family name was synonymous with the city of Aurora as the family’s long stream of lawyers had a role in almost every major development in the city.
Sam Alschuler, who continued in that vein, was no exception. But he also added an extra degree of community involvement that went beyond his law offices.
The family “would represent the corporate movers and shakers in the community, including the railroad, banks, newspapers and every major development,” said Philip Ruddy, attorney with Myler, Ruddy & McTavish in Aurora and former corporation counsel for the city.
“But Sam thought that, in addition, community involvement was imperative for successful professionals,” he said.
Mr. Alschuler’s involvement in the community was extensive. In addition to being corporation counsel for Aurora for seven years in the 1960s, he was on the Copley Hospital board for 50 years and was on the Aurora Planning commission for 25 years. He was president of the Chamber of Commerce, the Community Chest, the Rotary Club and the Easter Seal Rehabilitation Center.
His family said he was so dedicated to his altruistic endeavors that the line between work and charity was often blurred.
“When I was young, I remember how proud I was he was the president of the chamber, and how hard he worked for the Easter Seals,” said his daughter, Terri Hale. “To me it was what he did. I knew much more about the work he did in the community. I thought that was his job.”
Mr. Alschuler, 93, died of congestive heart failure Sunday, June 25, in Provena McCauley Manor in Aurora.
As a Plan Commission member, Mr. Alschuler encouraged development to come to Aurora and recognized its importance, Ruddy said.
“He recognized the opportunity it would provide, and he would encourage the commission as well as promote developers to build here. He was one of the people that felt the city should expand to the east out towards Naperville,” Ruddy said.
The first comprehensive plan for Aurora also was under his tenure as commissioner, said his son, Albert, a law professor at the University of Chicago.
“He persuaded the City Council to hire a professional city planning firm to draw up a plan and worked closely with this firm in developing the plan and then persuaded the City Council to adopt it,” his son said.
Mr. Alschuler was born and raised in Aurora in a family that had established its roots in the city in 1858. His father and his uncle were lawyers and were the major influences in his life, said his son.
While he was a talented artist who worked in pencil, charcoal, oils and pastels, Mr. Alschuler’s fate was sealed, said his son.
“Art, photography and journalism never had much chance. Law eventually became his second love. His first was his wife,” said his son.
While a student at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Mr. Alschuler spent his last year there in law school. He continued at the University of Chicago Law School and graduated in 1935.
He began his career in his father’s law office of Alschuler, Putnam and McWethy, which over the years has changed names several times, with the one constant being an Alschuler always at the forefront.
Mr. Alschuler went into general law practice.
“He represented corporations and individuals, farmers and city people, rich and poor clients. He had a hands-on, face-to-face kind of practice,” his son said.
He married his high school sweetheart, Winifred King, in 1939, and the couple had two children before Mr. Alschuler was drafted into the Army during World War II. After his discharge, he returned to the law firm.
Mr. Alschuler practiced law into his late 80s.
His wife died in 1999, a few days short of their 60th wedding anniversary.
Other survivors include three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Services have been held.
