Robert Dyer was a DuPage County-based trial lawyer who, at the time of his retirement in 1992, had taken more than 400 cases to a courtroom verdict.
“He was one hell of a trial lawyer. He was one of the best,” said federal 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge William Bauer, 97, who was DuPage’s state’s attorney from 1959 until 1964. “He had so much self-confidence. He knew he was good.”
Dyer, 94, died in hospice care near his Naples, Florida, home Nov. 9 after suffering two strokes, said his wife of 42 years, Jutta. Before retiring he had lived in Glen Ellyn and Wheaton.
Born Robert Edmund Dyer in Chicago, Dyer grew up in Westchester, attended Culver Military Academy in Indiana and received a law degree from Northwestern University in 1952.
Dyer worked briefly for a Chicago law firm before joining Rathje & Woodward in Wheaton in 1957.
Dyer specialized in insurance defense cases, frequently representing insurance companies in personal injury cases at the state and federal levels. By the mid-1960s, the firm’s name had been changed to Rathje, Woodward & Dyer and it later became known as Rathje, Woodward, Dyer & Burt.
In one year alone, Dyer tried 54 cases, his wife said.
“I was a very active trial lawyer when I was in the (DuPage) state’s attorney’s office, and I tried probably 25 to 30 cases in the division,” Bauer said. “And he was trying things that were a little more intricate. If you try 10 cases a year, you’re a busy lawyer.”
“He was a hardworking attorney who truly represented his clients,” said retired state Supreme Court Justice S. Louis Rathje, a former law partner of Dyer’s.
Later in his career, as insurance defense work became more competitive, Dyer started doing more personal injury work.
Dyer twice applied to be a DuPage County circuit judge in 1989 but was not selected.
In his career, Dyer took some 400 cases to trial, his wife said. At the time of his retirement at the end of 1992, the Tribune reported that Dyer had taken more cases to trial than any other Illinois lawyer.
After retiring, Dyer moved to Naples, where he ran unsuccessfully for the Naples City Council in the early 1990s.
A first marriage ended in divorce. In addition to his wife, Dyer is survived by three daughters, Susan Hultgren, Carol Brown and Sally Murrow; two stepsons; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
A service was held.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
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