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Revision as of 03:49, 6 April 2018

Rob Sherman
Personal details
Born(1953-04-02)April 2, 1953
DiedDecember 9, 2016(2016-12-09) (aged 63)
Marengo, Illinois, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (before 2008)
Green (2008–2016)
SpouseCeleste (m. 1978–2016)
Children2
Alma materNational Louis University
Northwestern University
Harper College
OccupationBusinessman

Robert I. "Rob" Sherman (April 2, 1953 – December 9, 2016) was an American political activist, occasional political candidate, and businessman. He was known for his role as an Illinois Green Party candidate, as an atheist and civil rights activist, and for his advocacy of separation of church and state. He died in a plane crash outside Marengo, Illinois on December 9, 2016 at the age of 63.

Early life and education

As a youth, Sherman attended Hebrew School, and spent his adolescence in Highland Park. According to a candidate questionnaire, he attended National Louis University, Northwestern University, and Harper College.

Career

Prior to, and during his political and civil liberties activism, Sherman worked as an office supply dealer, a teacher, at a bank, on a Good Humor truck, and as an office manager for the French consulate. He ran several home-based businesses to help fund his activism, including a travel agency, a delivery service, concert booking and airplane sales. He was also a longtime volunteer for the American Red Cross.

Civil rights advocacy

In 1981, Sherman listened to a radio speech by Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who successfully won a U.S. Supreme Court battle, Murray v. Curlett, in 1963 against mandatory school prayer and Bible readings. Sherman was motivated to join the American Atheists organization and eventually became its Illinois director and national spokesman. In 1986, he sued the village of Zion, Illinois for the mixing of government and religion, for its inclusion of religious symbols on municipal logos, material and property. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1992, which ruled in Sherman's favor and ordered municipalities to drop the use of religious symbols. His success earned him front-page news coverage and invitations to appear on national TV shows, including those of Oprah Winfrey, Phil Donahue and Larry King.

Sherman frequently received attention in the 1980s and 1990s due to similar civil rights battles, centered around the separation of church and state. Reporter Richard Roeper said in 1998, “He has battled towns from South Holland to Deerfield to Zion to Palatine to Highland, Ind., and Wauwatosa, Wis., over public displays of religious symbols on water towers, on government property and on official village seals." He filed lawsuits against numerous American municipalities, against the Boy Scouts of America in 1997 after he and his son were denied membership because they refused to recognize a "duty to God", and against Township High School District 214 in 2007 over the state's new law mandating a moment of "silent prayer or silent reflection" in classes. He was involved in numerous other lawsuits, of which at least one other went to the Supreme Court in the late 2000s.

According to columnist Eric Zorn with the Chicago Tribune, Sherman was consistent in his constitutional church-state activism. He didn't debate God; instead, his challenges were based on the Constitution, which he felt supported the right of nonbelievers not to sponsor religion. In 1989, when a threat of a legal challenge resulted in the removal of lighted Christian crosses from government property, hundreds of home and business owners responded by erecting lighted crosses on their private property. Sherman called the resulting display "a festival of religious liberty. It proves that people don't need the government to do religion for them."

After 10 years of membership in American Atheists, he formed his own organization, Rob Sherman Advocacy.

Political involvement

In his later years, Sherman was active in politics as an occasional candidate. In 2006, he unsuccessfully ran for the 53rd district in the Illinois House of Representatives as a Democrat. In 2008, after meeting Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney, Sherman joined the party. That same year, he ran as a Green for the same seat. He ran unsuccessfully for Buffalo Grove Village Clerk in 2011, for Illinois's 5th congressional district in 2016 as a Green – receiving 4.7% of the vote – and he had announced that he would run for Illinois's 12th congressional district in 2018. He served as the Cook County Green Party chairman in 2012.

Sherman's political positions included support for capitalism, anti-abortion, and fighting climate change, opposition to gender and LGBT discrimination, and opposition to red light cameras, which he referred to as a "revenue scam". He also supported secularist legislation, such as removing "In God We Trust" from United States currency, "One nation under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance and removing Christmas as a federal holiday.

Radio, and later career

Sherman hosted radio shows on AM 1530 WJJG and WSSY-AM (1330).

In the summer of 2016, Sherman started a company that built kit aircraft.

Personal life

Sherman was born the second of three boys, to a conservative Jewish family. He realized he was an atheist by the age of 9, but that fact was never "a big deal" until age 13 when he told his parents he didn't want to go to Hebrew School anymore. When his parents asked why, he said, "Because I’m an atheist. I don’t believe in make-believe, so I don’t believe in God." "I never really was a believer. Praying seemed to make as much sense as talking to the wall. My mind is pretty well made up that God is make-believe." His parents responded first by sending him to counseling by rabbis, then to a Chicago hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

He married his wife, Celeste, a former Roman Catholic who converted to Judaism, in 1978. Together they had a son and a daughter, Richard and Dawn, respectively. He lived in Buffalo Grove, Illinois for 32 years before moving to Poplar Grove, Illinois in the summer of 2016 to a home that had a runway on the property.

In 1998, Sherman was convicted of misdemeanor domestic battery for slapping his 16-year-old son, and was sentenced to probation and counseling. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail for refusing to follow orders to complete counseling.

Death

On the night of December 9, 2016, Sherman died when his Zenair CH 601 Zodiac crashed outside of Marengo, Illinois. He was 63. He was flying from his home in Poplar Grove to Schaumburg Regional Airport to attend a holiday party. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that Sherman's plane lost control soon after taking off, and that it crashed around 6:19 p.m. on December 9. Federal Aviation Administration records also showed that Sherman had a sport pilot certificate, meaning that by flying at night, he was violating the restrictions on his license.

References

  1. Blumberg, Nick (October 7, 2016). "Rob Sherman: Candidate for Congress, 5th District". Chicago Tonight. Retrieved December 25, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. Abortion protesters demonstrate in suburbs
  3. ^ Briscoe, Tony; Sobol, Rosemary Regina; McCoppin, Robert (December 13, 2016). "Noted Atheist Rob Sherman Dies in Plane Crash: 'He Was Dedicated to His Causes'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 13, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. Atheist Patrolling War Zone Between Church And State, Chicago Tribune, May 12, 1986, Jim Spencer
  5. ^ O'Donnell, Maureen; Owen, Jordan (December 12, 2016). "Atheist Activist, Green Candidate Rob Sherman Dies in Plane Crash". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved December 13, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Constable, Burt; Sotonoff, Jamie (December 13, 2016). "Atheist, Activist and Aviator: Remembering Rob Sherman". Daily Herald. Retrieved December 13, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Testa, Adam (August 22, 2010). "Who is Rob Sherman, Traveling Atheist?". The Southern Illinoisan. Retrieved December 13, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ "Atheist Who Fought Illinois Laws Dies in Small Plane Crash". Herald & Review (from the Associated Press). December 13, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. A few last words about the remarkable Rob Sherman
  10. Chicago Tribune, Rick Pearson. December 10, 1992. Page 74
  11. Prominent Northwest suburban deaths of 2016, Daily Herald, December 28, 2016
  12. Atheist Patrolling War Zone Between Church And State, Chicago Tribune, May 12, 1986, Jim Spencer
  13. Atheist & Son, Chicago Reader, Michael G. Glab, July 5, 1990
  14. Atheist & Son, Chicago Reader, Michael G. Glab, July 5, 1990
  15. Atheist Patrolling War Zone Between Church And State, Chicago Tribune, May 12, 1986, Jim Spencer
  16. Atheist Patrolling War Zone Between Church And State, Chicago Tribune, May 12, 1986, Jim Spencer
  17. ^ "Rob Sherman, Atheist Who Fought Illinois Laws, Dies in Small Plane Crash". Crain's Chicago Business (from the Associated Press). December 12, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. "Pilot Killed in Marengo Plane Crash Identified as Atheist Activist Rob Sherman". WGN-TV. December 12, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  19. "Pilot Dead After Small Plane, Owned By Rob Sherman, Crashes In Marengo". CBS Chicago. December 10, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  20. ^ McCoppin, Robert (December 16, 2016). "Atheist Activist Who Died in Plane Crash Wasn't Supposed to Be Flying at Night". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 17, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. Reiland, Jordyn (December 15, 2016). "Robert Sherman's Plane Lost Control Minutes After Takeoff, NTSB Says". Northwest Herald. Retrieved December 16, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

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