Puffer Genealogy

KILLIAN, Joseph Edward

KILLIAN, Joseph Edward

Male 1910 - 1974  (63 years)

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  • Name KILLIAN, Joseph Edward 
    Birth 8 Mar 1910  Leadville, CO Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    FindaGrave
    _COLOR 11 
    Death 20 Jan 1974  Ann Arbor, MI Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Burial Coloma, MI Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    North Shore Memory Gardens 
    Person ID I21374  Puffers
    Last Modified 2 Mar 2017 

    Family MERSON, Alice Mary,   b. 27 May 1913, South Haven, MI Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 28 Nov 1984, Benton Harbor, MI Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 71 years) 
    Marriage 6 Dec 1938  South Haven, MI Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F4031  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 17 Mar 2024 

  • Photos
    joseph edward killian gs.jpg
    joseph edward killian gs.jpg

  • Notes 
    • The Herald-Press January 21, 1974
      Colorful Ex-Prosecutor, SJ Lawyer

      "Fighting Joe" Killian is Dead

      Joseph E. Killian, 63, probably the most colorful Berrien county prosecutor in the post-World War II era and long an aggressive courtroom lawyer, died at 3:45pm Sunday in the University of MI hospital, Ann Arbor.

      Ill for the past four months, he entered St. Joseph Memorial hospital last fall and about a month ago was transferred to the Ann Arbor hospital. His home was at 4150 Ridge road, Stevensville.
      Mr. Killian came to the Twin Cities in 1933 direct from law school, and practice law here ever since, with the exception of service as a naval intelligence office(r) during World War II aboard aircraft carriers in the Pacific.

      Mr. Killian was elected to four terms as Berrien county prosecutor. His eight years in office, 1947 to 1955, are longer than any other Berrien prosecutor.
      Mr. Killian also wielded more influence in the courthouse than any other prosecutor, and he was a power in county and state Republican politics.
      He was prosecutor during the strike-troubled times of post World War II and won a reputation for successfully prosecuting union officials for riotous conduct.
      Mr. Killian was known as "Fighting Joe" for aggressive prosecution and political rhetorical battles. In 1956, he literally lived up to the name by socking a dog warden in a comic case instigated by a friend's prank and mistaken identity. He also paid a $19 fine.
      In private practice, Mr. Killian was an ace on condemnation cases. A municipal official once said: "It's better to pay a higher fee to Joe Killian and have him on your side than have him against you."

      Mr. Killian was born March 4,(8,) 1910, in Leadville, Colorado, the son o f Edward and Ida Killian. The family moved to Allegan in 1920 where the senior Killian was superintendent of schools for 20 years.

      He took undergraduate work at Kalamazoo college and University of Michigan. He was graduated from George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C., in 1933, and started practice in St. Joseph the same year as an associate of Charles W. Stratton.

      In 1938, Atty. Killian made the first of two unsuccessful bids for the R epublican nomination as prosecutor, the office for which he later set t he longevity record. He also married Miss Alice Merson of South Haven, Southwestern MI's Blossom Queen of 1937.

      Atty. Killian enlisted in the Navy in World War II, serving as an intelligence officer on aircraft carriers in Pacific combat.

      In 1946, he entered a law partnership with Atty. Williard J. Banyon in the firm of Killian and Banyon.

      Atty. Killian's first year as prosecutor in 1947 was marked by trouble in the strike wave that was hitting the nation. He vigorously prosecute d labor officials who were accused of inciting riotous conditions during strikes at Remington Rand and New Products.

      The Rand strike also produced a clash between the prosecutor and state police as Mr. Killian charged the troopers were restrained by their high command from preserving order.

      Mr. Killian won a felony conviction of Thomas Flynn, a UAW field organizer for malicious destruction of property during a 1948 strike at Nylen Products. Flynn's prison sentence was later commuted by Gov. G. Mennen Williams.

      In 1949, Mr. Killian took on the United Electrical Worker union, which then represented Whirlpool workers with a charge that union leadership was communist dominated. This produced no litigation, but did wind up in a celebrated radio debate between Mr. Killian and a UE organizer.

      After retiring from the prosecutor's office, Atty. Killian withdrew from active politics to concentrate on his private practice. Friends had urged him to make a run for Congress on retirement of Clare Hoffman, but Mr. Killian declined.

      In private practice, Atty. Kilian's law Firm began acquiring new partners until it became the biggest in Berrien county in 1970 with the formation of Killian, Spelman, Taglia, Meek, Lagoni and Burdick.

      Atty. Carl Burdick struck off on his own in 1972 and the firm was dissolved in January, 1973, when Attys John Spelman, Paul Taglia, Stuart Meek and William Lagoni formed a new firm. At the beginning of this year, two young attorneys, Roccy M. DeFrancesco and Thomas H. Adams, Jr., joined him in a new partnership, known as Killian, Adams, and DeFrancesco.

      Survivors are his wife, Alice; two sons, Joseph Jr. who is a captain in the U.S. Air Force stationed near London, and Bill of Cleveland, O.; two daughters, Miss Carol Killian of San Francisco and Miss Mary Kay Killian of Ludington; his mother, Mrs. Ida Killian of South Haven, and two (three) grandchildren. His father died about ten years ago. A memorial service will be conducted at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in St. Joseph at 2 p .m. Wednesday. the Rev. Robert F. Andrews, pastor, will officiate. The body will be cremated.

      Friends may call at the Fairplain chapel of the Florin funeral home.

      The caption under the picture reads:

      "Fighting Joe": Known as "Fighting Joe" from a colorful eight years as B errien county prosecutor from 1947 to 1955, Atty. Joseph E. Killian had p racticed law in the Twin Cities nearly 40 years when he died Sunday. A n aggressive courtroom lawyer throughout his career, he gained wide att ention as prosecutor of several union figures in major strikes in the T win Cities in the early years of industrial union activity here.