Harris Fawell

Harris Walter Fawell (March 25, 1929 – November 11, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician from Illinois who served seven terms as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1985 to 1999.

Fawell was a graduate of West Chicago High School. He attended North Central College of Naperville from 1947 to 1949, during which time he also played baseball for the minor league affiliate of the Detroit Tigers in Greenville, South Carolina.

He received his LL.B from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Admitted to the bar in 1952, Fawell practiced law from 1954 to 1984. He served as an Assistant State Attorney for DuPage County, Illinois.

He was the brother-in-law of Beverly Fawell, who was a member of both Houses of the Illinois General Assembly.

In 1958, Fawell challenged incumbent Lottie Holman O'Neill in the Republican primary to represent the 41st district in the Illinois Senate, but was unsuccessful. Four years later, he was elected to succeed her when she retired. He was a Republican member of the Illinois Senate from 1963 to 1977, and was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1968 and 1988.

He prioritized preservation and expansion of local parks, resulting in some success but also provoking opposition from developers and other special interests. He was one of only two Republicans in the state senate at the time who voted in support of fair housing legislation.

Fawell did not run for re-election to the state senate in 1976, choosing instead to make a run for a judicial seat. In the 1976 Republican primary for the Illinois Supreme Court, Appellate Judge Thomas J. Moran defeated Fawell.

Afterwards, he returned to his private law practice, where he represented clients including municipalities and part districts.