Widely respected Chicago attorney John C. Tucker never fit the corporate mold and had no qualms about defending reputed mobsters as well as white collar executives.
As a lawyer and partner at Jenner & Block from 1958 to 1985, Mr. Tucker was involved in several high-profile criminal and civil cases. In 1969, he advised defense lawyers William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass in the Chicago Seven Trial. Mr. Tucker also represented reputed gambling czars Dominic Cortina and Donald Angelini.
Colleagues said his most significant victory was the U.S. Supreme Court case Elrod v. Burns, which struck down Chicago’s patronage system. Mr. Tucker helped win $1.2 million in back pay for Republican deputies fired when Democrat Richard Elrod became sheriff in 1970.
“That was revolutionary when it happened,” said attorney Jerold Solovy, who worked with Mr. Tucker on several cases. “He was passionate about law, but he was also a legal genius.”
Mr. Tucker, 76, who retired from the law in 1985 to embark on a second career as a writer, died of lung cancer Saturday, Oct. 9, at a Virginia hospital, family said.
An Evanston native, Mr. Tucker won scholarships to North Shore Country Day School, Princeton University and the University of Michigan Law School, according to a 1985 Tribune interview.
In 1958, he came to Jenner & Block, then named Johnston, Thompson, Raymond & Mayer.
As a young lawyer, Mr. Tucker became immersed in pro bono criminal defense work. The firm’s highly regarded pro-bono program was established by the late Prentice Marshall, who later became a federal judge, and current partners Solovy and Thomas Sullivan.
During his legal career, Mr. Tucker represented the University of Illinois, the Evanston School Board, former Congressman Abner Mikva, former Cook County Assessor Tom Hynes and Mayor Richard M. Daley, when he was Cook County state’s attorney.
His first marriage was to Nancy Adams, and they had four children: Katherine, Cynthia, Laura and Michael. The couple divorced in 1974. A second marriage to Robin Moran also ended in divorce. In 1983, Mr. Tucker married Jayne Barnard, who was then a partner at Jenner & Block and later deputy corporation counsel for Chicago.
Two years later, at the peak of his professional career, Mr. Tucker shocked colleagues when he decided to quit his six-figure salary and move to rural Virginia to fish and embark on a writing career.
“Life has to be broader than just doing one thing,” he told the Tribune in 1985. “I’ve just known too many people who always wanted to do something and just waited too long.”
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He drew raves for his first book, “May God Have Mercy,” a nonfiction account of a murder case in Virginia. A review published in the Tribune in 1997 said: “May God Have Mercy” is an important book that should open readers’ eyes to the imperfections in our criminal-justice system.”
In 2003, Mr. Tucker wrote his memoir, “Trial and Error: The Education of a Courtroom Lawyer,” which colleagues said is used by law professors across the nation in teaching trial practice.
Mr. Tucker also wrote numerous articles and op-ed pieces for the baiduhai, the New Republic, The Washington Post and USA Today.
His daughter Laura said he was diagnosed with cancer as he was writing a book on President Barack Obama.
Mr. Tucker is survived by his wife, four children and nine grandchildren.
There were no services.