Events

Retired U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Abner J. Mikva will be honored on Thursday, April 29, with the Union League Club of Chicago's Distinguished Public Service Award. A reception will begin at 11:30 a.m. followed by a luncheon at noon. The Union League Club is located at 65 W. Jackson, Chicago. Judge Mikva, a Hyde Park resident who has devoted much of his legal career to fostering civil rights to reduce prejudice in housing, employment and education, will be cited for his decades of exceptional commitment to community and country and scores of significant civic contributions, including service in all branches of government -- as an Illinois state legislator, a U.S. Congressman, legal advisor to a U.S. president and chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia circuit. Currently the senior director of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School, Judge Mikva and his wife, Zoe, co-founded the Mikva Challenge, a non-partisan civic leadership program that encourages more than 5,000 Chicago youth  to serve as election judges, volunteer for political campaigns,  and create local activism projects to improve  their schools and communities. According to Union League Club vice president, attorney Robert Karton, “this is a singular honor conferred on individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to civic or public service.” Judge Mikva joins a roster of previous Union League Club Distinguished Public Service awardees: entertainer Danny Thomas; Msgr. Ignatius McDermott, founder of Haymarket Center, a Chicago rehab institute; U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois judges Abraham Lincoln Marovitz and George N.