Amie Joof

Amie “Tukung” Joof passed away recently after a long battle with cancer.

Amie graduated from St. Joseph’s High School, in The Gambia West Africa, in 1979.

Upon completion of her high school studies, she worked in The Gambia in the Statistics Department as a junior clerk. Later, she moved to the United States to further her education.

Amie began her undergraduate work at Macalester College in Minnesota and completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science at Loyola University.  Amie further continued her education by obtaining two Master’s Degrees, one in Social Work from the University of Chicago and another in Women’s Studies from Loyola University.  She also obtained a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from DePaul School of Law.

While attending school she worked at Marshall Fields as a sales clerk, Evanston Hospital as a lab technician and at the Evanston YWCA.  Upon completion of her degrees she worked as a social worker/therapist at the Englewood Community Health Organization and for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) as the Northern Cook County Area Supervisor and subsequently as Field Service Manager.

In addition to her heavy load as an administrator for DCFS, Amie also found time to practice her true passion – LAW!  As an attorney she worked on immigration cases with much of her work being done pro bono.

Amie was also actively involved in community and cultural organizations as a member and leader. As a Pan-Africanist, Amie was a member of The All African People’s Revolutionary Party, The Pan-African Revolutionary Socialist Party and Africans On The Move.  She served as the board president and board member of The Gill Park Cooperative.  She also served on the Board of Directors for the Phi Alpha Delta Fraternity and as a member of the Illinois State Bar Association.

She was an avid traveler, traveling throughout America, The Middle East, and Europe.  She was a strong advocate of women’s, children’s and oppressed persons’ rights.  Amie understood the importance of education, especially higher education and she was a source of inspiration to family, friends and everyone she encountered.

Amie is survived by her father, Alhagi Ousman Kaliba Joof and mother, Aji Sainabou Njie.  Her siblings, Aji Sirra Njie Fye, (Alhagi Alieu),  Pa Joof (Kim), Boli Joof, (Yassin), Isatou Joof (Alieu), Ebou Joof, Fatou Joof (Madika), Minnie Secka (Bamba), and Yama Bobb (Pa).  She is also survived by her daughters, Oumie (Omar), Binn Jatta (Abdoulie), and Ramou Secka, numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles and extraordinary friends.

Ray James Schoonhoven passed away at his Lake Forest home last month.

Mr. Schoonhoven served in the Navy in WWII on a PT Boat in the South Pacific. He returned to Chicago after the war and received his J.D. from Northwestern Law School.

He joined the law firm then called Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather and Geraldson. He was widely regarded as one of the premier management labor lawyers in the country and was a dedicated mentor to several generations of lawyers.

Click here to read the full obituary

Clyde E. Murphy, a crusading civil rights attorney who won a Supreme Court case on behalf of African-American firefighter applicants, passed away on Aug. 17 at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago. Services have been held.

In his 35-year legal career, first with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and more recently as executive director of the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Mr. Murphy handled employment discrimination, affirmative-action, police misconduct and housing bias cases.

His pivotal achievement came this year when the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal judge’s ruling that the city of Chicago discriminated against a group of more than 6,000 African-American applicants who took the 1995 firefighter entrance exam.

Read the full obituary in the Chicago Tribune