Update: Memorial, Saturday, April 13, 2 p.m. at Northwestern University's Law School—Lake Shore Drive and Chicago Avenue.
Dawn Clark Netsch—a former Illinois comptroller and state senator, the first woman to win the Democratic nomination for governor and a longtime LGBT ally—died March 5 at 86, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Netsch had disclosed in January that she had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease.
In 2011, she talked with Windy City Times ( www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/Dawn-Clark-Netsch-Gay-ally-looks-back/34161.html ). She said that she became an advocate for LGBT rights because she and husband Walter (who died in 2008) had gay friends and because she was a civil libertarian.
Regarding same-sex marriage, she said, "We will reach a point where I think marriage is not prohibited anywhere. That's not going to happen quite in my lifetime. I think we'll add a few more states in my life, but it's going to take a while."
In 1995, Netsch was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame as a friend of the community.
This past January, Planned Parenthood honored Netsch when it marked the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
Netsch was also a professor emeritus at Northwestern University School of Law.
