Howard Arvey

Howard Arvey 93, retired senior partner at the Chicago law firm of Wildman, Harrold & Dixon, passed away in Santa Barbara on December 17, 2015. Mr Arvey was born in Chicago in 1921. He was the son of Colonel Jacob M. Arvey and Edith Freeman Arvey. Educated at Western Military Academy and Northwestern University, he studied law at Harvard and Northwestern where he received his JD in 1948. He served in the US Army Air Force from 1942 to 1946 where he served as a Judge Advocate.

Mr. Arvey was with Arvey, Hodes, Costello & Burman and its predecessor law firms from 1948 through 1991 and served as managing partner from 1974 until joining Wildman Harrold in 1992. He served on leading corporate boards including Chris-Craft Industries, Warner Communications, NBD Bank, and Nutmeg Industries. He also served on the boards of major civic organizations and was Chairman of the Board of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago and was a member of the Board of Louis Weiss Hospital.

He belonged to various bar associations including the Chicago, Illinois State and American Bar Associations, Decalogue Society of Lawyers, John Henry Wigmore Club of Northwestern and was Master in Chancery of the Superior Court of Cook County from 1953-1965.

Widely respected for his legal talents and business acumen, it was his storied relationship with his Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Chloe, who accompanied him to the office that made the pages of Chicago Lawyer and the ABA journal (Amicus Canine) and became his trademark, setting the trend for a new informality in the work place.

He is survived by his wife Margaret Campbell Arvey, sister Helen Arvey Bresky, his children Richard Arvey and Sandra Lorgeree and grandchildren Aaron, Sarah and Micah Arvey and Doug and Heather Lorgeree.

There will be a celebration of life in Santa Barbara in 2016.