U.S. District Judge for the Central District of Illinois Richard H. Mills died Sunday at Springfield Memorial Hospital, leaving behind a legal legacy that spanned decades.
Mills was 93 years old, with the Sangamon County Bar Association announcing his death Wednesday. Mills was nominated to become a District Judge in the Central District in 1985 by then-President Ronald Reagan, after nine years serving as an Illinois Appellate Court Justice and ten years as a Circuit Judge. He replaced J. Waldo Ackerman, who had passed away in November 1984.
Mills served up to his death, continuing to hear cases as the oldest and second-most senior member in terms of experience in the district, having reached senior status in 1997. Mills authored 177 different opinions, authored many legal articles in journals that explained various issues relating to the law, worked on behest of the Chief Justice of the United States on courts of appeal in eight of the 13 federal districts and was a member of the Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee for 23 years.
Born in Beardstown on July 19, 1929, he came from a family of lawyers, with his grandfather having opened a law office in Virginia in 1870. Mills’ father, Myron, also served as Cass County State’s Attorney at one point. Mills would assume his family’s firm in 1957, after he received his law degree from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia.
He would follow in the footsteps of his father by becoming state’s attorney in 1960, continuing to serve at his family’s private practice during his term. In 1966, he became a circuit judge in the Eighth Judicial Circuit, which includes Cass County. After a decade of service on that court, he won a seat on the Illinois Appellate Court in the Fourth District in 1976 as a Republican.
Reagan officially nominated Mills to the Central District in on June 25, 1985, being confirmed by the United States Senate in July of that year. He was officially sworn in on Aug. 27, 1985.
Outside of his duties on the Court, Mills had a 33-year military career, serving as a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve’s Judge Advocate General Corps and a Major General in the Illinois State Militia. He served two years in the Korean War from 1952-54, receiving a Bronze Star for his service. He was also a distinguished Eagle Scout in his youth and even served two terms as president of the Abraham Lincoln Council of Scouts BSA.
Mills is survived by his two sons, Daniel Cass, a local attorney, and Jon, who lives with his wife Nadine in Ajax, Ontario, Canada and three granddaughters. His wife Rachel passed away in 2020 after 58 years of marriage.
Upon hearing of his death, Sangamon County State’s Attorney Dan Wright said that Mills’ service to the state was “without equal”.
“Even as a student at our alma mater, Illinois College, I came to know his well-earned reputation for professional excellence, unyielding commitment to justice, and dedication to public service,” Wright said in a statement.
Those who knew him, whether it was presenting cases before him in court or serving with him as a judge, remembered Mills after his passing, with former Fourth District Circuit Judge Ron Spears saying that he brought a professionalism to the bench, along with a passion for the profession.
“I thought he was one of the fairest judges I ever appeared in front of,” Spears said. “He was firm (and) tough but he was extremely willing to listen to arguments and follow the law. Whatever that course required of him was what he did.”
While he could be a stern, no-nonsense judge, Spears said that Mills had a sense of humor that he unveiled to those he knew well.
“I was fortunate enough to know him well enough that we could laugh and kid about things,” Spears said. “But he had a role as a judge that he needed to fulfill and he did that. As the face of the law in the federal system, he took that very seriously.”
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Chesley said that Mills was someone with a great sense of pride in the American legal system and someone who kept a sense of decorum and dignity in the courtroom.
“He recognized (the judicial system) wasn’t perfect but that it’s the best there is,” Chesley said. “He was proud to serve his country both in the military and as a public servant as a judge. To him, the decorum and dignity were very important. I remember one time, an attorney came in and the top button on his shirt was unbuttoned under his tie and he let the attorney know that. He was a no-nonsense guy as far as being in the court, but that doesn’t mean that he was draconian.
He just liked the decorum. He expected people to be on time and be prepared and if you weren’t, he would let you know it.”
Chesley feels that the institutional knowledge Mills brought to the table would be missed, along with the sort of work ethic that kept him going even after he went on senior status.
“When he went on senior status, he took more cases than he had to,” Chesley said. “He loved the system so much that he wanted to keep working. I talked with some of his clerks and they said, ‘Well, they’ll probably have to take the judge out on a gurney,’ because he liked the job so well. He definitely liked being a judge.”
Funeral services will be private, with a burial ceremony to take place at a later date in Arlington National Cemetery.
People are being asked not to provide flowers to the family, with all memorial contributions being sent to the Abraham Lincoln Council.
Source: Sj-R
