McMorrow, first woman on Ill. Supreme Court, dies

CHICAGO (AP) — Mary Ann McMorrow, the first woman to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court and the state's first female chief justice, has died.

Illinois Supreme Court spokesman Joseph Tybor, who was authorized to speak on the family's behalf, says McMorrow died Saturday at a Chicago hospital following a brief illness. She was 83.

McMorrow set numerous precedents. She was the only woman in her 1953 class at Loyola University School of Law, and became the first woman on Illinois' highest court in 1992. She served as chief justice from 2002 to 2005.

But when she retired in 2006, McMorrow told The Associated Press she never focused on being a trailblazer. She said she was "just trying to do the best I could."

McMorrow is survived by her daughter and her sister.