Otto Kerner (Democrat), was born in Chicago August 15, 1908. He attended Robert Burns Elementary and Oak Park High schools and received his B.A. Degree from Brown University in 1930. He studied at Cambridge University, England, and Northwestern University, Chicago, where he graduated Juris Doctor in 1934.

He was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois in
1947. While engaged in the practice of law he was attorney for various major corporations. Kerner was elected county judge of Cook county in 1954 and re-elected in 1958. He was elected Governor of Illinois on November 8, 1960, and inaugurated January 9, 1961.

Mr. Kerner enlisted in the Black Horse Troop of the Illinois National
Guard as a private in 1934 and rose to the rank of captain in 1941. He
was on active duty in both infantry and field artillery in the Mediterranean and Pacific theatres and was advanced to the rank of
lieutenant colonel in 1945. Released from active duty in March 1946, he reorganized the 33^rd Division, I.N.G. He became a brigadier general in 1951 and retired as a major general in 1954. Mr. Kerner is a 32nd Degree Royal Arcanum, the College Alpha Delta Phi and the Legal Phi Delta Phi fraternities.

He is a member of the American Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, 7^th Circuit Bar Association, West Suburban Bar Association, Bohemian Lawyers' Association, the Law Club and the Legal Club.

He is married to the former Helena Cermak and resides with his two
children at the Executive Mansion in Springfield.

/Source: Illinois Blue Book 1961-62/