The Madison County Bar Association hosted a ceremony remembering and honoring five members who died in the past year.
The event was held at the Madison County courthouse in Edwardsville. Attendees honored attorneys John Gibbons, L. Thomas Lakin, Gordon Maag, William Mateyka and Philip W. Weber.
Former Madison County State’s Attorney Thomas GIbbons began by providing the eulogy for his dad, John Gibbons, who died on Jan. 19 at 85 years old.
John Gibbons practiced law in Illinois since 1976 after graduating from St. Louis University School of Law. Thomas Gibbons remembered his dad for a life dedicated to service.
Attorney Ben Allen gave a eulogy for Lakin, acknowledging both his rise and fall from power.
Lakin, who led the class action Lakn Law Firm of Wood River, died on Dec. 12, 2022, at 82 years old.
Allen admired Lakin’s skills in the courtroom and his political position.
“Tom Lakin, was, in heart, a good man,” he said. “A charitable man.”
He said Lakin’s “life changed for the worse” after developing a drug addiction.
Lakin lost his law license in 2009 after he was convicted in federal court on charges of cocaine possession and distribution to a minor.
He also faced child sex offender charges. He was not convicted, but he agreed to register as a sex offender in 2011. He had admitted to committing sexual abuse on a 15 year old boy.
Wood River attorney Thomas Maag gave the eulogy for his father, former Madison County judge and Illinois Appellate judge Gordon Maag.
Thomas Maag said his father was the only one to argue both sides of forum non conveniens in the Illinois Supreme Court and win both times.
After his time as an associate and appellate judge, Gordon Maag ran on the Democratic ticket for the Illinois Supreme Court, which Thomas Maag said was the “most expensive judicial campaign in American history” at the time.
“Certain powers that be just couldn’t stand to have an honest man win,” he said.
“But they didn’t beat him,” he continued. “He never gave up.”
Maag later filed separate $110 million defamation lawsuits in federal and state court against the groups who opposed him, claiming injuries to his reputation, humiliation and mental anguish.
Thomas Maag said his father represented a wide variety of people as an attorney, including both sides of union affairs and the Bearded Lady, among others.
He said the law profession is lesser without his father, who argued what he thought was right.
“He believed in truth and justice and the American way,” he said.
Godfrey attorney John J. Hopkins delivered the eulogy for Mateyka, who died on Dec. 5, 2022, at 86 years old.
Hopkins said he enjoyed litigating with Mateyka and shared a love of Cardinals baseball with him.
“He was what I would call an old-style Madison County lawyer,” Hopkins said.
He explained that Mateyka was a “solid advocate for his clients” and sought to help them.
Alton attorney Edward Moorman gave the eulogy for Weber, who died on March 31 at 78 years old.
“In the course of our lives, if we’re lucky, we get to know some unforgettable characters. I would rank Phil Weber near the top of that list,” he said. “If you knew him, you’d never forget him. We’ll miss him.”
Moorman explained how Weber had a great sense of humor.
He shared a story of when Weber was being considered for U.S. Attorney and was told to keep a low profile. In response, he showed up at the courthouse the next day wearing a pair of comical plastic glasses with the nose attached, saying he was wearing a disguise.
Moorman added that Weber was very religious.
“The only thing devilish about him was his sense of humor,” he said.
Hopkins closed the ceremony with the 1624 poem by John Donne, For Whom the Bell Tolls:
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each man’s death diminishes me.
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send ye not to ask
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.