Late Daily Herald reporter to be honored at Lake County courthouse
Three years after his death, former Daily Herald legal affairs reporter Tony Gordon will be honored next month at the courthouse where he worked for years.
The judges of the 19th Circuit have commissioned a plaque that will displayed at the Lake County circuit courthouse in Waukegan. It will feature a mock copy of Gordon's long-running column about crime and justice.
Under the headline "He told our stories," the plaque will tell visitors about Gordon's life and work.
Gordon was respected by his peers in journalism and the lawyers and judges he wrote about. A Wildwood resident, he succumbed to cancer in August 2012 at the age of 60.
He worked for the Daily Herald for 18 years, after a long run at what was then the Waukegan News-Sun.
Lake County Chief Judge John Phillips said he and his fellow judges felt it was important to honor Gordon.
"Tony was the newsman's newsman," Phillips said. "He was such a fixture around us and in our courtrooms."
Gordon's plaque will be unveiled Nov. 11, during a Veterans Day event at the courthouse.
The timing is fitting, Phillips said, because Gordon was a Vietnam War veteran whose decorations included the Silver Star and three Purple Hearts.
Also at the ceremony, an estimated 30 veterans will tell their stories to court reporters, creating transcripts that will be archived at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
The gathering is set for 8:30 a.m. in the main lobby of the courthouse.
Gordon's plaque will hang temporarily in a window at the law library, not far from the small office where reporters often work. When a new courthouse tower is completed in a few years, the plaque will be moved to a prominent location there, Phillips said.
"We want him to be recognized," Phillips said. "We don't want to forget him."