Andrew C. HAMILTON

HAMILTON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/24/2008 at 09:27:19

Chicago Tribune (IL)
January 23, 1988

ANDREW C. HAMILTON, 85, LAWYER AND CIVIC LEADER

Andrew C. Hamilton, 85, a retired attorney in the law firm of Kirkland and Ellis, represented the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and the Board of Trade. During World War II, he handled the legal work for The Chicago Tribune and Tribune companies
A memorial service for Mr. Hamilton, a resident of Sanibel Island, Fla., and formerly of Evanston, will be held in March. He died Thursday in Lee Memorial Hospital, Ft. Myers, Fla.

In a sketch about himself at the time of his retirement in 1972, Mr. Hamilton wrote: ''I have been a sort of 'jack of all trades' around the law office. When I retired, my pet two clients were the Catholic bishop of Chicago and the Board of Trade. For more than 20 years, I have enjoyed the privilege of being legal adviser to the church under three cardinal archbishops. And for more than 20 years, I never made a trade on the board-probably because of old- fashioned ideas about professional ethics.''

Mr. Hamilton, a native of Kanawha, Ia., was the son of Jesse Hamilton, the town's mayor. He studied at Ellsworth College in Iowa Falls and then at the University of Chicago, arriving in the city as a caretaker on a cattle train. After trying medical school, he was graduated in 1928 from the U. of C. with a law degree. He joined the law firm of Kirkland, Fleming, Green & Martin in 1931 and became a partner in 1944. In the 1940s, in addition to The Tribune companies, he represented the Chicago Newspaper Publishers Association throughout a two-year strike. He spent several years in labor relations and handled matters for employers and unions.

He and his wife, Thelma, have been inveterate travelers. They twice traveled to Antarctica and the Arctic. They spent a month crossing the Sahara Desert, looking for cave paintings. They found several, including one that had never been recorded. They traveled up the Mato Grasso in a Brazilian riverboat and traveled to China before it was officially recognized by the U.S.

''He loved life and adventure and wanted everyone else to,'' said his nephew, James. ''He was generous, low-keyed and slow to anger.'' Mr. Hamilton was a director for 15 years of the North Shore National Bank and a member of its executive committee. He also served for many years on the board of the American Negro College Fund.

Survivors, besides his wife, include a brother.