Samuel K. Gove, 87, of Urbana passed away at 2:00 AM on January 28, 2011. Mr. Gove was born on December 27, 1923, in Walpole, Massachusetts, a son to Minnie Louise Allen Gove and Chester Baldwin Gove. He was preceded in death by a brother, Chester Allen Gove, and a sister, Louise Hargreaves Gove Hawkins. Surviving are his nieces and nephews, Stephen Gove of North Woodstock, New Hampshire, Martha Bradley of Portland Maine, Mary Sachs of New York City, James Hawkins of North Attleboro, Massachusetts, and Jeffrey Gove of Camben, Maine. He also left behind many close friends at the University of Illinois and in the Champaign-Urbana community.

Mr. Gove served in the United States Navy between 1943 and 1946 and was stationed in the South Pacific during WW II. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a B.S. in Economics in 1947 and he received an M.A. from Syracuse University in 1949. He joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1950; he was promoted to the rank of Professor of Political Science in 1961. He was named director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs in 1967, a position he held until 1985. He was named Director Emeritus in 1989.

Gove was an active member of the Institute of Government from 1950 through December, 2010. Over the past sixty years he established himself as a major scholar in the field of state and local politics; he was the leading authority on Illinois politics for most of his career. In addition, he was a leader in Illinois government, blending his academic expertise with a well-grounded understanding of the "real world," as he often put it. Not only was he personally active in Illinois public affairs but he worked hard to promote civic engagement by others and to attract talented professionals to the ranks of government service in the state.

In the 1960's Gove was a major player in the effort to draft a new constitution for Illinois; at the time the state was still operating under its 1870 constitution. He was appointed by both the governor and the president of the Illinois Senate to various study commissions to lay the groundwork for the constitutional convention. He also organized the research effort that supported the work of the convention delegates. In 1970 he was appointed by the governor to chair the Citizens Task Force on Constitutional Implementation. He later led the effort to produce a book series that chronicled the effort to draft and adopt the new constitution.

At different points in his career Gove worked with virtually every level of Illinois government and politics. Since 1950 he served on more than two dozen state commissions; most of the appointments were made by one of the state's constitutional officers. He twice served on a governor's transition team and was a member of the Illinois Commission on the Organization of the General Assembly between 1965 and 1974; in the 1990's he was engaged in redistricting efforts. Throughout his career he was heavily involved in governance matters concerning higher education and, in 1998, the governor appointed him to the Illinois Board of Higher Education. To promote civic engagement on the part of Illinois citizens, Gove organized seventeen statewide assemblies on various public issues between 1957 and 1982. Each assembly brought public officials together with civic leaders and academics. The 1962 assembly set in motion the drive for the 1970 constitutional convention. Gove was responsible for the involvement of scores of talented individuals in state politics and was a driving force for the professionalization of Illinois government throughout the 1960's and 70's. He created the Illinois Legislative Staff Intern Program in 1962 and directed it until 1973. The program produced a number of leaders in Illinois politics, including former Governor Jim Edgar, Judge Wayne R. Andersen, State Senator Kirk Dillard, U.S. Representative Terry Bruce, and James D. Nowlan, a state legislator and longtime leader in Illinois politics. Gove was also the initiator and driving force behind the creation of Illinois Issues, a public affairs magazine. He served as the chair of the board for Illinois Issues between 1974 and 1985. Gove also served on the Illinois Commission on the Future of Public Service (1990-91).

In addition to his public service, Gove also made important scholarly contributions. He co-authored or edited more than a dozen books and one hundred articles. He was most proud of his first major co-authored book, Legislative Politics in Illinois, which was published in 1960 by the University of Illinois Press. He later collaborated on two books on the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention. He co-edited another highly acclaimed book, After Daley, Chicago Politics in Transition, which was published by the University of Illinois Press in 1982 after the death of the first Mayor Daley. He continued to publish throughout his life and his last book, Illinois Politics: A Citizen's Guide, appeared in 2010.

Professor Gove was the recipient of many honors throughout his long and distinguished career. In 1978 he was named Vice-President of the Midwest Political Science Association, the second largest association of its kind in the US. In 1980 he was named a Fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration, the highest honor for someone in his field of scholarship. He was a recipient of the American Society for Public Administration's Distinguished Service Award on three different occasions (1970, 1971 and 1992). He has been listed in Who's Who for the world, the U.S. and the Midwest, as well as in the American Men and Women of Science. He was a longtime member of the prestigious Cosmos Club in Washington, DC. In recognition of his contributions to the professionalization of state officials, the state legislature created the Samuel K. Gove Illinois Legislative Intern Hall of Fame in 1990; each year a small number of distinguished former interns are admitted. In September, 1992 Governor Jim Edgar dedicated the Samuel K. Gove Plaza in front of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs' new building on Nevada Street in Urbana, a rare but appropriate honor. Also, upon his retirement from the University of Illinois in 1989, the Samuel K. Gove Graduate Fellowship Fund was created; it is used to benefit students in the University of Illinois' Civic Leadership Program. Sam was an inveterate giver who donated to a dizzying array of charities, including environmental and wilderness groups, the University of Illinois Foundation, Syracuse University, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Boys and Girls Clubs, Planned Parenthood, a scholarship fund named for him, and many other organizations. He was a lifelong tennis player and fan. He was a regular at UI tennis matches and accompanied the team to tennis matches, at the team's invitation. Since the late 1950's he spent summers at his beloved cabin in Pentwater Michigan where he had established many warm friendships. Cocktail parties on his deck overlooking Lake Pentwater were legendary around Pentwater and among his many friends throughout Illinois.

Condolences may be offered at www.renner-wikoffchapel.com.