Robert K. McQueen 1920-2017

Robert K. McQueen of Victory Lakes, Lindenhurst, but a longtime resident of Gurnee, died April 3, 2017 at age 96. A retired circuit judge, he was born on April 12, 1920 at Farragut, Iowa, where he was raised on a farm by his mother who was widowed when he was three. He held undergraduate and juris doctor degrees from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C. and was a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 25 years. On retirement as senior resident agent at Waukegan, Illinois, he became an assistant state's attorney for Lake County and was an adjunct professor of legal courses at the now Gateway Institute, Kenosha, Wisconsin. Appointed an associate judge in the Illinois 19th Judicial District in 1972, he later served as circuit and chief judge of the circuit.

Judge McQueen was a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and Lake County Bar Association (past-president of the latter), The Society of Former Agents of the FBI, the Gurnee Community Church, and the Honest Johns Club in Waukegan.

Past memberships include Troop 77, BSA, Gurnee; The Halfway House Advisory Board; The Law Enforcement Advisory Committee of Lake County College; The Gurnee Lions and Exchange Clubs; and the Palmento Pine Country Club of Cape Coral, Florida, where he had wintered. A commissioned naval officer in World War II, he was honored by the Village of Gurnee in 1982 for service to the community and by the Illinois State Bar  Association in 2000 as a senior counselor after 50 years of membership.

His work in the FBI investigating Soviet espionage in the late 40s and early 50s was featured in the book Bombshell and two television documentaries.

Predeceased by Harriet (Peggy) McQueen, his wife of 67 years, his parents Benjamin and Bessie McQueen and brother Wayland, he is survived by son Thomas (Janet) North Barrington, Illinois and daughter Jane (Robert) Lindquist, Wadsworth, IL as well as five grandchildren, Allison, Alexander and Andrew McQueen and Ashley and Anna Lindquist.