Lincoln Academy laureates

Mulroy

Newman

Royko

Short

A MUSICIAN and a journalist are among the 1983 laureates of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Laureates are selected by a vote of academy trustees each December. The awards will be presented by Gov. James R. Thompson at the academy's 19th annual convocation at the Edwardsville campus of Southern Illinois University on April 30.

The new laureates are: Thomas R. Mulroy, Chicago attorney; Ralph G. Newman, collector and bookseller; Chicago journalist Mike Royko; and Bobby Short, pianist and singer.

Thomas R. Mulroy was graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1928 and began his career as assistant legislative counsel of the U.S. Senate. Since 1931 he has practiced law with several Chicago firms, and is now senior counsel to the firm of Hopkins & Sutter. Mulroy has held many offices related to government and law. These include: president of the Chicago Crime Commission, president of the Law Club of Chicago, president of the Bar Association of the 7th Federal Circuit and chairman of the Citizens' Committee to Study Police-Community Relations in Chicago. He is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. He has shown much interest in the area of patient care and legal problems facing hospital directors and doctors. He has been chairman of Evanston Hospital Corporation and is now director of the McGaw Medical Center.

Ralph Geoffrey Newman has been a leader in widening and deepening our understanding of the Civil War and of Abraham Lincoln. In 1933 he founded the bookstore in Chicago that was later named the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop. Newman is considered one of the country's leading authorities on Lincolniana, of which the bookshop has been a major buyer. As an author he has written several books dealing with Lincoln and the Civil War. Since 1933 Newman has been engaged in the buying, selling, appraisal and authentication of literary, artistic and museum properties, acting as consultant to such clients as the Library of Congress, the Illinois State Historical Library and the Chicago Historical Society. He has been active as an appraiser for hundreds of such collections since 1950.

Mike Royko was a U.S. Air Force radioman during the Korean War, but there were no openings for radiomen at Chicago's O'Hare Field, where he was transferred. Royko talked his way into editing the base new career led him to the Chicago Daily News in 1959, where his present daily commentary, "Mike Royko," first appeared in 1963. The column, which discusses Chicago and Chicagoans in a tough, cynical, down-to-earth style, now appears in the Chicago Sun-Times. Awards Royko has received include the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, the Ernie Pyle Memorial Award, the first H. L. Mencken Award, the 1971 National Headliner Award and the 1968 Heywood Broun Award. In 1968 he was named to the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame. He has written four books, including the best-seller, Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago.

Bobby Short refers to himself as a "saloon pianist and singer." Born in 1924 in Danville, the son of a coal miner, Short made his first professional appearance at the age of 12. He toured the vaudeville circuits with such greats as Fletcher Henderson, Bunny Berigan and The Three Stooges. Short later began to establish himself here and abroad as an important figure in nightclubs, performing compositions by Cole Porter, Noel Coward, George Gershwin and Rodgers and Hart — in a very stylish and elegant manner. Since 1968 he has performed regularly at the "Cafe Carlyle in New York City.

Short has made several stage appearances, including his legitimate stage debut in 1956 in the New York State production of Cole Porter's "Kiss Me Kate." He has appeared in concert in the great halls of this country, as well as at the White House, on television, and in nightclubs across the country. His recordings have secured for him a solid place in the recording field. He has written one book, Black and White Baby, and has contributed articles to a number of periodicals.□

April 1983 | Illinois Issues | 44