URBANA - Frederick S. Green, a life long resident of Urbana and a State of Illinois judge for 42 years, died at 10:40 p.m. Friday, October 10, 2008, at Meadowbrook Health Center, Urbana. He was 84 years old.

A Memorial Service will be held at 3 p.m., Thursday, October 16, 2008, at the First Presbyterian Church, 602 W. Green Street, Urbana. The family will greet friends after the service at the church. There will be no visitation. Burial will be private.

Renner-Wikoff Chapel and Crematory, Urbana, is handling arrangements.

Frederick Shepherd Green was born November 23, 1923 in Champaign, a son of Frederick and Queen Lois Shepherd Green. His mother died when he was seven years old and for the next several years a family friend, Barbara Robinson Holt, assisted in his upbringing.

He met Carolyn Wildman in an English class at Lincoln Hall on the University of Illinois campus in 1946. They were married on December 23, 1949 in Chicago. She survives.

Also surviving are three sons, Louis M. Green, Frederick S. Green, Jr. and James D. Green (Bianca), all of Champaign; two granddaughters, Stella and Maris Green; brother-in-law, David S. Nivison of Los Altos, California; and 2 nieces, 2 nephews and their families.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Cornelia Green Nivison.

Fred attended Urbana public schools and graduated from Urbana High School in 1941. As a youth Fred excelled in sports. He earned all-state honors as an end on the undefeated Urbana High School football team and all-state honors as a center on the basketball team which finished in 2nd place in the 1941 state tournament. He was a charter member of the Urbana High School Athletic Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame for his achievements as a player.

Prior to enrolling in college, Fred attended Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire during the 1941-42 school year. In the fall of 1942 he entered the University of Illinois. He participated on the freshman football and basketball teams that year, but his school year ended in March 1943 when he enlisted in the Army for World War II. He served in the Sixth Field Artillery Battalion of the Thirty-Seventh Infantry Division of the United States Army from March 1943 until December 1945. He spent 27 months in the South Pacific, participating in the Battles of Bougainville in the Solomon Islands and Luzon in the Philippine Islands. He received a Bronze Star for heroic achievement.

In January 1946 Fred reenrolled at the University of Illinois and resumed his basketball passion. He was a Varsity "I" letter winner during the next 4 seasons. His participation in basketball culminated during his senior year in 1949 when Illinois won the Big Ten Championship and earned the school's first berth in what is now known as the Final Four.

Fred graduated from the University of Illinois College of Commerce in 1949 and College of Law in 1951. After practicing law in Urbana for five years as an associate in the office of Henry I. Green, to whom he was not related, he was elected as a County Judge of Champaign County in 1956. He was subsequently elected in 1964 as a Circuit Judge of the 6th Judicial Circuit and in 1974 as a Judge of the 4th District Appellate Court. He was unsuccessful in his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the Illinois Supreme Court in 1984. He served as an Appellate Court Judge until he retired in 1998 at the age of 75.

Early in his judicial career Judge Green was known for his work with juvenile offenders of the law. During this period of time he served as a member of the Illinois Commission on Human Relations, as Chairman of the Board of the Frances Nelson Home for Dependent Children, as Chairman of the Operating Committee of the Rantoul United Services Organization, as a founding director of the Champaign County Urban League, as a member of the Champaign County Mental Health Association, and as President of the Champaign-Urbana Optimist Club.

During his career Judge Green was appointed to numerous committees by the Illinois Supreme Court or the Illinois State Bar Association. Most notably, he served on the Illinois Judicial Conference Executive Committee from 1967 to 1979, serving as Chairman in 1976-77. Also, he was a member of the Joint Committee to Implement the Judicial Article of the Illinois Constitution from 1962 to 1965. He authored over 1,000 published opinions as an Appellate Court Judge.

Fred was also active with many organizations at the University of Illinois. He served as president of the Law School Alumni Association and the "I" Men's Association. He was a life member of the Alumni Association and served on its Board of Directors. He was a member of the Foundation's President's Council. He was affiliated with Sigma Alpha Epsilon social Fraternity and Phi Delta Phi legal Fraternity.

Fred was recognized in 2006 by the Champaign County Bar Association as a "Pillar of the Bar". He was honored in 2007 as a "Distinguished Alum" of Urbana High School by the Champaign-Urbana Schools Foundation. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Urbana and served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees and twice as an elder. He was a member of the Urbana Rotary Club and in 2006 was awarded the club's Lifetime Vocational Achievement Award.

The Green Family wishes to thank the staffs of Diversified Health Care Services and Meadowbrook Health Center for their dedicated care of Fred.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Champaign-Urbana Schools Foundation, P.O. Box 1166, Champaign, IL 61824-1166, to endow the Judge Fred Green Memorial Scholarship Fund.