Marvin F. Burt, Freeport, a retired Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court and a Past President of the Illinois Association of Park Districts, died October 15 in a Freeport nursing home. He was 77.

Services for Justice Burt were held October 18 at Grace Episcopal Church in Freeport.

A 25-year member of the IAPD, Justice Burt served as President in 1957-58. He helped establish the Jane Addamsland Park Foundation and the Pecatonia Prairie Path. The path follows an abandoned railroad route between Rockford and Freeport.

Justice Burt received the IAPD Presidential Citation Award in 1977.

A native of Freeport, Justice Burt graduated from Harvard University (A.B., 1928) and from Chicago-Kent College of Law (J.D., 1931).

He began a 25-year public career in 1945 when he was elected to the Illinois House. In 1952, he was elected a state senator, and later headed the Republican caucus in the Senate. He resigned from the Senate in 1959 to run for the U.S. House, losing in the primary to John B. Anderson of Rockford. In 1960, he was elected a circuit judge of the 15th Judicial District.

In 1969, he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Illinois Supreme Court, a position he held October 1969 to December 1970.

Justice Burt is survived by a son, Woodruff, a daughter, Elizabeth Philbrook, and four grandchildren.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 33 November/December 1983