James R Thompson

“Big Jim” — he stood 6 feet 6 inches — was Illinois’ longest-serving governor. The native Chicagoan was elected four times and served 14 years. Though the most popular governor of the past half century, talk of his running as a Republican candidate for president in the late 1970s was scuttled in part by his strong convictions, beliefs that he refused to abandon merely to achieve his lifelong dream. Thompson died Friday August 14 2020, according to his wife, Jayne Thompson. He was 84. Governor Thompson served as the Chairman of the Chicago law firm of Winston & Strawn LLP from January 1993 to September 2006. He joined the firm in January 1991 after serving four terms as Governor of the State of Illinois. Prior to his terms as Governor, he served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois from 1971-1975. Governor Thompson served as the Chief of the Department of Law Enforcement and Public Protection in the Office of the Attorney General of Illinois, as an Associate Professor at Northwestern University School of Law and as an Assistant State's Attorney of Cook County. Governor Thompson was a member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission). He serves on the Boards of Directors of Navigant Consulting Group, Inc. and Maximus, Inc. and he is the Chairman of the United HEREIU Public Review Board.