Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Illinois reformer Mikva dies
Source: Reuters
Abner Mikva, who served as a White House adviser, federal judge, congressman and mentor to President Barack Obama, has died at age 90, his Chicago non-profit organization said on Tuesday.
Mikva, who died on Monday, emerged in the 1950s as a liberal reform leader who defied an electoral culture in Illinois dominated by machine politicians before moving on to Washington.
Obama, who presented Mikva the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014, credited Mikva with steering him into public service when the future president was a law school student.
"He saw something in me that I didn't yet see in myself, but I know why he did it," Obama said in a statement. "Ab represented the best of public service himself and he believed in empowering the next generation of young people to shape our country .
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-mikva-idUSKCN0ZL26K
World | Tue Jul 5, 2016 2:37pm EDT
CHICAGO | BY DAVE MCKINNEY
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