Robert Edward Bard 1918-2017

Robert E. Bard, 99, died on June 4, 2017, in Tempe, AZ. He grew up in Chicago and attended Tilden Technical High School, and graduated from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1940. During World War II, he served in the 1st Armored Division, in Algeria, Tunisia and Italy. He was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious achievement in 1943. After the war, he continued to serve in the Army Reserves, and retired as Lt. Col.

Mr. Bard graduated from Harvard Law School in 1948, and began practicing law at Wilson & McIlvaine in Chicago. In 1952, while working on a cigarette tax evasion case, he was appointed assistant attorney general of Illinois by Gov. Adlai Stevenson. Mr. Bard later worked for the Seng Co., Chicago, a manufacturer of furniture hardware, and he became president of the Seng Co. in 1966. He later received a MA from John Marshall Law School, Chicago, and practiced federal taxation law in Chicago with Bates, Dupree, Bard & Wilson.

He and his family were long-time residents of Park Ridge, and later Chicago. Mr. Bard and his wife Rosemary retired to Scottsdale, AZ in 1985. He lost Rosemary in 1997 due to cancer. Through a support group for those who had lost their spouses, Mr. Bard eventually met Marion Shaw, whom he married, and they spent 10 happy years together.

Mr. Bard is survived by his daughters Kathryn and Sara Bard, his grandson, Joshua Lazar, and stepchildren Leslie and Jeffrey Shaw.