Ray Klingbiel

Raymond I. Klingbiel (March 1, 1901 – January 18, 1973) was an Illinois lawyer and judge who twice served as the Chief Justice of Illinois (1956–1957, and 1964–1967) during sixteen years as justice of that court. In 1969, Klingbiel and then Chief Justice Roy J. Solfisburg, Jr. were involved in a major state scandal, after Sherman Skolnick revealed that both had accepted stock from the Civic Center Bank & Trust Company (CCB) of Chicago while litigation involving the CCB was pending at the Illinois Supreme Court. The scandal forced Klingbiel to resign. Early and family life Klingbiel was born on March 2, 1901, in East Moline, Illinois. He attended public schools in East Moline and then attended the University of Illinois, which awarded him a law degree in 1924. While there, he was a member of the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. He later received an honorary doctorate of law from the Chicago-Kent College of Law and was active with the Rotary Club and the Masonic Lodge (achieving the 33rd Degree). Early legal career Upon admission to the bar, Klingbiel returned to East Moline and served as a city attorney for 12 years. He then won election as mayor and served from 1939 until 1945. During this period, Klingbiel established a reputation as a kingpin in the Rock Island County Republican Party and Downstate Illinois political power structure, in part as he was the county campaign manager for Governor Dwight Green who won election in 1940 in the backlash against the New Deal.