Jeffrey J. Asperger

In the summer of 1970, 17-year-old Jeffrey J. Asperger could not wait to get out of Youngstown, Ohio. It was a time of peace protests, long hair, muscle cars, drugs, and rock and roll, and Jeff embraced it all when he headed off to Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

Less than two years later he returned home with shoulder-length hair, a stray dog, a slim GPA, one semester of credit, and a case of hepatitis C. Jeff's parents offered him a bedroom in the basement if he agreed to get a job and take night classes at Youngstown State.

He worked that summer hanging aluminum siding for $3.25 an hour. He liked construction, but wanted to be his own boss. At the end of the season, Jeff offered the contractor his life savings -- a couple hundred dollars -- for a few ladders, pump jacks, and a table saw.

In the ensuing 4 years, Jeff worked from May to October as a "tin man" contractor, cladding Youngstown bungalows and ranches in aluminum. The winters he clerked evenings at a local Ramada Inn, drove a forklift for a beer distributor, and worked part-time at the nearby GM Lordstown plant, all while attending classes at Youngstown State and Kent State.

By 1976, armed a BA and an MA in English from Kent State, Jeff left Youngstown a second time, heading off to John Marshall Law School in Chicago. Three years later he was hired as a litigation associate at the Loop law firm Clausen Miller.

Over the next four decades, Jeff flourished as an associate and partner at Clausen and, later, at the helm of his own 4-lawyer litigation boutique headquartered in Two Prudential Plaza. He specialized in catastrophic industrial accidents, trying cases involving silo explosions, crane collapses, warehouse conflagrations, high rise fires. and barge collisions.

Over his career, including his last three years as Of Counsel at Meltzer Purtell and Stelle, he won over $250 million in verdicts and settlements for his clients.

Jeff loved Chicago. Migrating from condos in Sandburg Village to North State Parkway to Michigan Avenue overlooking the Water Tower, he was a fixture first at Harry's, Excalibur, and the Pump Room, and later at Gibson's, Prosecco and Marchese.

An avid sailor, Jeff competed in Atlantic Ocean regattas and over 20 Mackinac races, most in his own boat, a Tartan-10 named Bombshell, out of the Columbia Yacht Club. His most memorable race was one of his first, beating over 300 competitors in the 1981 Mac as a crew member on the winning boat Thunderbird.

Jeff's need for speed included an ever-changing fleet of motorcycles -- from off-road dirt bikes to touring Harleys -- and exotic sports cars, which he loved showing off at car shows.

Transitioning effortlessly between black leather and black tie, Jeff was a long-time member of the Economic Club of Chicago, the Union League Club, the Goodman Theater, the Art Institute, and most recently, an enthusiastic supporter of the Collaboraction Theater Company.

Jeff died Sunday, October 11 at the age of 68 of congestive heart failure (not Covid-related). He is survived by his brother Jonathan and sister-in-law Liz, (La Grange, IL); his brother James (Albuquerque and Taos, NM); and his nephews Kyle (Columbus, OH) and Devin (Los Angeles, CA). Jeff was preceded in death by his parents, John and Carolyn Asperger.

Jeff also leaves scores of devoted friends, two ex-wives, two Porsches and a Ferrari. Services will be held in the Spring, pandemic permitting. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Parkinson's Foundation, the American Heart Association, or the Collaboraction Theater Group.