Greer, Burns & Crain is sad to announce the passing of our Senior Founding Partner and long-time friend Roger D. Greer. Roger passed away in February, 2011. As we recognized long ago, Roger was an exemplary practitioner of intellectual property law — the heart of his legal practice in Chicago for nearly 40 years — and an exemplary human being.
Roger received both his bachelors in Electrical Engineering (1964) and his law degree (1967) from the University of Nebraska. His legal achievements include high-level litigation of patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, unfair competition, contract, legal malpractice, RICO and antitrust matters in state and federal trial and appellate courts, as well as the expert practice of transactional law including licensing and other transactional matters.
Roger was a member of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals; Trial bar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois; U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; U.S. Federal Claims Court and the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois.
His position as one of the most experienced and accomplished intellectual property lawyers in Chicago was widely recognized, and he was chosen as a 2005 Leading Lawyer in Intellectual Property Law and selected as a 2006 Illinois Super Lawyer. His opinions on an extremely varied range of intellectual property legal issues were in constant demand — both within and outside our firm.
Roger will be sorely missed by us, as well as our firm’s many other partners, associate attorneys, staff and clients.
The name Greer comes to us through Clan Gregor, and is believed to come from a Greek word that means “Watcher”. We hope that as he watches our evolution of Greer, Burns & Crain that we live up to his ideals.
Roger is survived by his wife Ginny; daughter Sally (Greg) Haas; grandchildren A.J. and Taylor Haas; brother Gordon Greer, and three nieces and a nephew.
Per our friends’ wishes, memorials may be made to:
Misericordia
6300 North Ridge Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60660-1017
Cancer Wellness Center
215 Revere Drive
Northbrook, Illinois 60062
Kellogg Cancer Care Center
c/o NorthShore University HealthSystem Foundation
1033 University Place, Suite 450
Evanston, Illinois 60201
northshore.org/about-us/foundation/facts/kellogg-cancer-center.aspx