Kappa Journal (Senior Kappas Edition)

TO THE CHAPTER INVISIBLE

By Aaron Williams The Honorable William Cousins, Jr. 1927–2018 Retired Illinois State Appellate Judge, Chicago Alderman, Attorney, U.S. Army (Ret.) W illiam “Bill” Cousins, Jr. described himself as, “An ordinary person who worked extraordinarily hard to attain

him again to serve his community when he was appointed as chair a city and county panels respectively investigating and evaluating fire code enforcement policies. While in retirement, he remained busy according to his daughter Cheryl. She commented to the Chicago Tribune newspaper about her father, “People still called for his advice and guidance, and he still continued to work on different issues. He always said that if you’ve been given a good brain and a good body, you have a responsibility to help those less fortunate than yourself. He never forgot his roots and never forgot where he came from.” Throughout his life, Cousins was recognized for his professional achievements and lengthy career in public service. He held member- ships in Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and Trinity United Church of Christ. He is also a member of the halls of fame of the National Bar Associa- tion, the Cook County Bar Association, and DuSable High School, among others. A stalwart member of the Chicago (IL) Alumni Chapter for 65 years, Cousins commented to Chicago area Kappa Men at the Edward G. Irvin Achievement Center about what the fraternity meant to him almost a year prior to his passing: “What Kappa has enabled me to do is to have a base of support and a source of brotherhood that is irreplaceable for which I am forever grateful… No experience has been more important to me than my experience with Kappa Alpha Psi ® ," stated Brother Cousins. My student days, really, were enriched by but more than that my life experience has been enriched by it. In years in past, particularly 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, I was a regular as the ‘rising sun’ with what was going on with Kappa. I am a Kappa from head to toe.” William Cousins, Jr. is preceded in death by his parents William Cousins, Sr. and Drusilla (nee Harris) Cousins, his sister Beatrice and his wife Hiroko. He is survived by his four children: daughters Cheryl and Gail, sons Yul and Noel and four grandchildren.

military service in the United States Army as an infantry lieuten- ant serving in the Korean War where he also met his wife of 52 years, Hiroko Ogawa. He retired in 1976 as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve Corps. In 1953, Cousins returned to Chicago, where he would live for remainder of his life, and began his legal career after passing the bar exam. He worked initially as an attorney with the Chicago Title & Trust prior to working as Assistant State’s Attorney of Cook County from 1957 to 1961. He was a partner in the law firm of Turner, Cousins, Gavin, and Watt which was comprised of African American attorneys and fellow Harvard Law School graduates. While he remained a practicing attorney, Cousins decided to run for public office fulfilling a personal goal. “I aspired to go into public office. I decided to be in public life and my practice of law was important… but making money was secondary to me and is still secondary to doing other things.” After serving as president of the Chatham-Avalon Community Council from 1962-65, Cousins ran in 1967 as an “independent” Democrat for the office of alderman in Chicago’s eighth Ward. Using the campaign slogan “Unbowed, Unbought and Unbossed”, Cousins purposely distanced his campaign from the powerful Democratic political machine of Chicago Mayor the late Richard J. Daley. He considered his 1967 victorious election to the Chicago city council as “…one of the highest achievements in my career up to that time.” As a political independent in a heavily Demo- cratic city, he served for nine years as the eighth Ward alderman where he met with his constituents, ensured city services were delivered to his constituents and represented their interests to the mayor and city council. Alluding to Mayor Daley, Cousins categorized himself as a “I am a non-machine Democrat and I will stay a non-machine Democrat.” in the October 1967 issue of the Kappa Alpha Psi Journal. Former U.S. Sen. Roland Burris (Ill-D) recalled in a January 26, 2018 Chicago Tribune article on Cousins “He was a tenacious fighter. What Bill believed in, Bill fought for. He always respected the opposition and always was a gentleman.” In 1976, Cousins ran for Circuit Court Judge of Cook County and won. His court characterized by his work ethic, fairness, and formality and always referred to himself as “the court.” One story about Cousins arriving to his courthouse uncharacteristi- cally late one morning. Cousins explained “The court had a flat tire.” Judge Cousins was known for methodically working longer hours than his judicial peers. David Hirschboeck of the Cook County Public Defender’s Office said of Judge Cousins: “We called him the prince of darkness because he would keep juries deliberating until the wee hours.” Long opposed to the death penalty, he ruled the Illinois’ death penalty unconstitu- tional noting the it was a “cruel and unusual” penalty that was “wantonly and freakishly imposed”. He remained on the circuit court until 1992 when he ran and won a seat on the Illinois Appellate Court. During his time on the bench, Cousins held numerous appointments. iIn 2002, Cousins did not seek reelection and consequently stepped down from the bench. Shortly into retirement, Chicago called upon

the goals that I set for myself.” Rising from modest beginnings in the Mississippi Delta to the heights of political and legal achieve- ments in the city of Chicago, Cousins was characterized as a man who defied the odds through hard work, intelligence, integrity, and a desire to serve his community. He was a member of a long and distinguished gallery of Kappa Men who were attorneys and judges in Chicago whose lineage originates from among others: the thirteenth Grand Polemarch J. Ernest Wilkins Sr., Wendell E. Green, Irvin C. Mollison, and, specifically a brother considered the “Dean of the black Chicago Lawyers”; the fifth Grand Polemarch Earl Burris Dickerson. Cousins stated in interviews about his life how Past Grand Polemarch Dickerson was very supportive of him throughout his professional and political career. A longtime Chicago resident who was an at- torney, Korean War veteran, judge, city alder- man, activist, husband, father, grandfather, and a proud alumnus of Chicago’s DuSable High School, the University of Illinois- Champaign and the Harvard Law School, Brother William Cousins, Jr. entered the Chapter Invisible on January 20, 2018 at the age of 90. Remembrances and stories about Brother Cousins appeared in print and social media following his passing, The Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. commented, “We have lost an American who was the true definition of great.” Furthermore, Rev. Jackson posted on social media: “The Honorable William Cousins, Jr. an activist who marched with Dr. King, stood up in the city council for justice and for the campaign of Mayor Harold Wash- ington. He never stopped marching. RIP.” Retired Appellate Judge Ann Claire Williams, the first African American to sit on the 7 th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, called Cous- ins an “extraordinary mentor.” “Cousins was

1947 Beta Chapter. Brother Cousins second row – fourth from left: “I had made no plans to attend the University of Illinois but it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. The camaraderie, the fraternalism, the friendship that were made there was invaluable to me then and remained so throughout my life.”

years with honors with a B.A. degree in 1948. As a sophomore, he joined the fraternity as a 1946 initiate of the Univer- sity of Illinois-Champaign Chapter, the Beta of Kappa Alpha Psi ® . He recalled his days on the Illinois campus: “I had made no plans to attend the University of Illinois but it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. The comradery, the fraternalism, the friendship that were made there was invaluable to me then and remained so throughout my life.” While at Illinois, Cousins earned a second lieutenant commission graduating in the first advanced ROTC class after World War II where he was named the most distinguished graduate from his class. Af- ter graduation, Cousins was accepted to the Harvard Law School where he served as president of the Harvard Law School Forum and earned his L.L.B. degree in 1951. While attending Harvard, he joined a group of Boston area Kappa Men who chartered the Boston (MA) Alumni Chapter in 1950. On the day he gradu- ated from law school, he reported for

the one you could rely on to be in your corner and give sage advice. He was like a rock in the Chicago legal community, not only the African American communi- ty, but the broader community. The other thing I would say is he was humble. He never let the robe get in the way of his humanity.” National Bar Association president Juan R. Thomas released a statement, “Justice Cousins was a mentor to so many of us and was always encouraging, witty, and supportive.” Born on October 29, 1927 in Swiftown, MS, William Cousins, Jr. and his family left Mississippi for Memphis, TN when he was a child. In 1938, the Cousins family subsequently moved to Chicago where Cousins graduated from DuSable High School in 1945 as president of his class. After high school, he left Chicago for the University of Illinois-Champaign on a General Assembly scholarship where he was a member of the debate team. He graduated in three and a half

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