March 2, 2005

Michael F. Lefkow, secretary of the Diocese of Chicago's Standing Committee and member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Evanston, Illinois, was found shot to death with his mother-in-law in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood on Monday evening.

Lefkow's wife, Joan, a U.S. District judge, discovered the bodies of her husband and mother in the basement study of the couple's home on North Lakewood Avenue on Chicago's North Side around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, February 28 when she returned home from work. According to the Cook County medical examiners office, Lefkow, 64, and his mother-in-law, Donna Grace Humphrey, 89, both died from multiple gunshot wounds. The Chicago Police Department has been joined by FBI and U.S. Marshals Service investigators in investigating the deaths. A protective detail has been assigned to the family. Judge Lefkow had been under the protection of the Marshals Service last year because of death threats following her rulings against white supremacist Matt Hale in a 2003 civil suit.

Michael Lefkow and his wife Joan were active members of St. Luke's, having joined the parish in 1987. Lefkow served on the vestry from 1992 to 1995 and had been active in other ministries there, including service as an usher and lector, a member of the summer choir and men's group, and a member of the Stewardship Committee. During the 1970s and 1980s the couple attended St. James Cathedral and St. Chrysostom, Chicago.

"His death is a profound loss not only to his family and our church, but to the wider community as well," said Bishop William Persell of Chicago in a statement released March 1. "His dedication to serving workers and those living on the margins of our society has been a consistent focus of his professional life and his ministry in the church. It is through such witness to the love of God that we work towards vanquishing hate-based violence that haunts our society. His wise counsel, generosity of spirit, and faith-centered service will be sorely missed."

Lefkow was a lifelong Episcopalian, baptized at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Glen Ellyn, Illinois in 1941. He was confirmed in 1958 at Trinity Episcopal Church, Wheaton, Illinois. After earning his law degree from Northwestern University's School of Law in 1966, he went to work as managing attorney in legal services for the poor. In 1979 he became supervisory attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Miami, Florida, and returned to Chicago in 1982 to serve as assistant regional labor counsel for the U.S. Postal Service. Since 1985 he was engaged in private practice, focusing on criminal law and employment law. He chaired the Chicago Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service from 2001 to 2002, and initiated a referral panel for victims of clergy sexual abuse. President Clinton appointed his wife Joan, 61, U.S. District Court judge in 2000.

In addition to his service on the diocesan Standing Committee, Lefkow served on the Episcopal Volunteer Lawyer Network of the diocese through which he provided pro bono services to congregations on employee relations.

Friends of the family gathered for a prayer service at St. Luke's on Tuesday evening. St. Luke's rector, the Rev. Jeannette DeFriest, officiated. Plans for a memorial Eucharist at St. Luke's have not yet been finalized.

The full text of Bishop Persell's statement follows:

I am deeply saddened by the tragic news of the death yesterday evening of Michael Lefkow and his mother-in-law, Donna Humphrey. Michael served our diocese as secretary of the Standing Committee and member of the Episcopal Lawyers Volunteer Network; and his parish, St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Evanston, as a lector, vestry member, and member of the Stewardship Committee. His death is a profound loss not only to his family and our church, but to the wider community as well. His dedication to serving workers and those living on the margins of our society has been a consistent focus of his professional life and his ministry in the church. It is through such witness to the love of God that we work towards vanquishing hate-based violence that haunts our society. His wise counsel, generosity of spirit, and faith-centered service will be sorely missed. I ask your prayers for his wife, Joan, their daughters, members of St. Luke's and all those his life touched.

Grant to him eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon him. And may his soul through the mercy of God rest in peace.

William D. Persell, Bishop of Chicago

Episcopal News Service
Source: Diocese of Chicago