[ACLU-CU ALERT] Hiram Paley

[Champaign County ACLU Announcements]

Hiram Paley, a long-time supporter of the ACLU, passed away Monday morning.  Hiram served on the steering committee of the Champaign County ACLU for more than 15 years, as well as on the ACLU of Illinois Board of Directors.  In 2005 Hiram was awarded the Roger Baldwin Award for a lifetime of service to civil liberties at the Bill of Rights Celebration in Chicago. Last spring, he received our chapter's highest award, the Victor Stone Award for lifetime achievement in supporting civil liberties.  Even as an "emeritus" member of our steering committee the past few years as his health made attending meetings more difficult, Hiram often made it to meetings and participated in our email discussions.

Through his decades of supporting civil liberties, we could always count on Hiram for letters to the editor and commentaries explaining, in everyman's language, this or that issue in a way that exposed inequity.  One could also depend on Hiram to offer an honest political opinion, when one was needed.

Hiram was Urbana's elder statesman, a voice of conscience and reason that has inspired a generation of earnest public servants and will continue to echo through time in their work to come.  We will miss him greatly.

For additional background, see the News-Gazette article at:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/people/2012-01-10/life-remembered-hiram-paley-was-leading-progressive-urbana.html

Bill Brown
Champaign County ACLU