Arthur N. Hamilton, 93, former presiding judge of Cook County Juvenile Court who was praised for his compassion but criticized for the court’s overburdened conditions, died Saturday, Dec. 25, in his Hazel Crest home of complications from Alzheimer’s disease, his family said.
Originally from New Orleans, Judge Hamilton was born into poverty and worked his way through Chicago-Kent Law School. In 1971, he was elevated to the bench as head of what was then called the Neglected and Dependent Children division of the Juvenile Court.
In 1981, he was appointed presiding judge of the nation’s second-largest juvenile court. He held that position until February 1992, when he retired at the age of 75.
During his tenure he came under fire because of the juvenile court’s backlog of abuse and neglect cases. But his son, Guy Hamilton, said his father found fulfillment in his 20 years of helping battered children and troubled youth find a path to a better life.
After Judge Hamilton’s retirement, officials recognized the need for more resources and opened two new courtrooms, hired eight additional court administrators and opened a new juvenile court building with 14 more courtrooms.
“He felt it was his mission to help troubled kids,” said his son. “Having grown up in New Orleans and lived on the West Side of Chicago, he had an understanding of what kids were going through. He knew many were in the system because of their environment and poverty.”
Judge Hamilton was born in New Orleans to Arthur Hamilton and Josephine Mamie Harris.
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When he was 12, his father died. Mother and son struggled alone until she married Edley Matute and had two more sons. The family moved to Chicago during the Depression, and continued struggling financially, forcing Judge Hamilton to drop out of McKinley High School and get a job.
He later returned to school and graduated in 1936 at age 19.
In 1938, he met Mary Easter Carter. They married on January 15, 1939, and remained together until her death last February.
In 1942, Judge Hamilton and his wife moved to Detroit, where he worked as a bus driver while attending Wayne State University. While there, he was also a member of the National Guard during World War II.
After the war, they returned to Chicago where he studied at Wilson Junior College now Kennedy-King College, and then entered Chicago-Kent Law School, receiving his law degree in 1950.
He became a junior member of the law firm of Blakely, Cooper, Crank and Perry, specializing in criminal law.
He was an assistant state’s attorney under John Gutknecht and then in 1957 ran an unsuccessful campaign for 24th Ward alderman on the West Side.
In 1968, he was appointed assistant attorney general by Illinois Attorney General William Scott, a Kent Law School classmate. Later in 1969, he moved to the Chicago Park District and rose to first assistant general counsel.
Under the director of General Counsel Neil Hartigan, he handled legal details in the Chicago Bears‘ move to Soldier Field.
Shortly before he was appointed presiding judge of Cook County Juvenile Court in 1981, Judge Hamilton delivered a moving speech to a group of young black men at a Chicago church. At the event organized by the Black Ministers Coalition, he recounted his tough childhood, struggles to get through law school and reasons for working in juvenile justice.
“Trudging the mean streets of the West Side of Chicago, picking up clothes to clean and press, to support my wife and child and pay my way through law school, I observed so many tattered youngsters playing in the littered streets and junk-piled lots that I was led to resolve that if ever I got the chance, I would do something, to make life better for such children,” Hamilton said.
“But when in 1971, I was elevated to the bench and put in charge of the Neglected and Dependent Children Calendar of the Juvenile Court, I soon realized that my previous experiences were as mere scratches on the surface of the widespread child deprivation which exists today.”
After announcing his retirement in 1991, Judge Hamilton told the Tribune: . “Although there have been many changes made during my tenure as presiding judge, the job is not complete, and probably will not be complete for perhaps decades.”
In addition to his son, Judge Hamilton is survived by his daughter, Lisa Carter, and five grandchildren.
Services will be Saturday at St. Mark United Methodist Church, 8441 S. St. Lawrence Ave., with visitation at 10 a.m. and a funeral at 11 a.m.