John Brooks

1954 - 2026

St. Charles - John T. Brooks, 71, passed away on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, at Accent Hospice Care in Naperville, at peace, with his loving wife at his side.

John was born on Sept. 17, 1954, on the South Side of Chicago, the only child of John A. Brooks, a chemical engineer with Amoco Oil Company, and Dolores (née Flannery) Brooks, who worked for U.S. Steel. From them, John inherited both a strong work ethic and a quiet, steady sense of purpose that guided him throughout his life.

He was educated in Chicago-area public and private schools, including Barton Elementary School and Chicago Christian High School in Palos Heights. A capable student with wide-ranging interests, John showed early signs of the intelligence, discipline, and focus that would later define his professional life. He carried those qualities forward into higher education and a long, successful legal career which he began as an estate planner at Hopkins & Sutter (later acquired by Foley & Lardner, where John practiced as a partner more than 20 years).

In the late 1990s, John declared estate planning to be "too dull" and opted to pioneer the specialized practice of estate and trust litigation – a niche practice shared by only a handful of national practitioners at that time. John went on to argue cases in the Illinois Appellate and Supreme courts, author numerous treatises and other publications, and mentor younger attorneys who took an interest in the specialty. His colleagues, clients, judges and even opposing counsel all respected his immense breadth of knowledge, integrity, calm demeanor, thoughtful advice and ability to find humor in the ordinary, everyday aspects of life.

John's career successes paled in comparison to his 40 years of marriage to Jill. John and Jill met as teenagers in the Spring of 1973 at Lums Restaurant in Urbana. They began dating a few years later and went on to open a restaurant together in Champaign- Flannery's. And some years later as the Tex-Mex trend was just taking off, it was reborn as Chimi Durangos. After thoroughly purging the restaurant bug from their systems, John and Jill closed Chimi's and married on June 2, 1985, which they followed with a "glorious and disastrous" three-day honeymoon, literally soaking up nature while camping in Shawnee National Forest amid torrential storms. John never forgot his good fortune to have married the love of his life.

After retirement, John turned his attention to time with Jill and pursuits that had long brought him joy. Although health challenges limited his ability to travel as much as he might have liked, he happily rediscovered his love of reading-particularly world history, classic novels, and short stories. He also returned to chess, a lifelong interest that suited his strategic mind and quiet competitiveness. John and Jill cherished time together at their beloved Siesta Key condo and, after relocating to the St. Charles area, they took on the adventures (and occasional headaches) of remodeling a home together-an endeavor John approached with patience, care, and the occasional wry, off-color comment.

John was preceded in death by his parents.

He will be greatly missed by Jill's family, including his sisters-in-law, Tara (Jeff) Swearingen and Stacey (Rodney) Poole; brother-in-law Wes (Luisa) Robbins; nieces, Katie (Cory) Freeman, Anna (Tyler) Lyons, Lena (Reeder) Head, Emma Robbins and Julia (Marcus) Chin; nephew Grant (Jessamin) Gale; grandnieces and grandnephews, Nolan, Tessa, Mallory and Ryker; along with many loving aunts; cousins; colleagues; and friends.

A private service will be held at a later date at a family cemetery in downstate Illinois.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Humane World for Animals, a cause that reflects John's quiet compassion and love for animals.

John will be remembered for his intelligence, his steadiness, his dry sense of humor, and the thoughtful way he moved through the world-never loudly, but always with purpose.