Frank Cicero, Jr., ’65, 1935-2024
Frank Cicero Jr., attorney who helped write the current Illinois Constitution, dies at 88
With great sadness, we announce the death of Frank Cicero Jr., age 88, a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and brother. Known as an accomplished trial attorney and historian, he was also a lover of the American West, fine European food and wine, and a devotee of education and lifelong learning. Surrounded by his loving family, Frank died February 25, 2024 in the historic home he loved so much. We will miss his tenacious spirit, loving heart, and intellectual prowess.
First in his family to go to high school or college, Frank was born in Chicago in 1935 to first generation Italian-American parents, Frank, Sr. and Mary Balma Cicero. His two sets of grandparents emigrated from Italy; one couple were Protestant Waldensians from the Alps and the other were Catholic Sicilians. In his retirement years, Frank devoted himself to understanding his parents’ different backgrounds–both Italian, but very different. With the curiosity of a trial lawyer making a case, he dug into his heritage and exploration of Italian Protestants. As such, he enjoyed his period as a trustee of the American Waldensian Society, and he completed his first book, Relative Strangers: Italian Protestants in the Catholic World (Academy Chicago Publishers, 2011).
A Lyons Township High School debate state champion, one of his most proud accomplishments was serving in the Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention, which drafted the state’s most recent constitution in 1969-1970. His lifelong love of state history and policy remained and inspired him to write Creating the Land of Lincoln: The History and Constitutions of Illinois 1778-1870, (University of Illinois, 2018). In recognition of the book’s contribution to the study of Illinois history, the Illinois State Historical Society honored his work with the Russell P. Strange Book of the Year Award in 2019. During his exploration into this neglected area of Illinois history, he enjoyed research trips to Springfield, along with his tenure on the Board of Newberry Library in Chicago. Frank also worked with the Evanston History Center to research his neighborhood, the street and park redesign changes made over the last 200 years, and interesting facts about historic homes.
Read more at Evanston Roundtable