URBANA – Robert Kirchner is remembered as a tireless and passionate fighter in both political and legal circles.

Mr. Kirchner, 54, of Urbana died Sunday morning. Friends said he apparently had a heart attack.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete at Renner-Wikoff Chapel and Crematory, 1900 Philo Road, U.

"There will never be another Bob Kirchner in this town," said Linda Abernathy, who said he was the inspiration for her group Best Interest of Children.

"He was unique among the Champaign County Bar for how aggressive he was, what a bulldog he was," says fellow attorney Tom Bruno. "We lawyers have an ethical obligation to act in the best interests of our clients, and he would do anything to fulfill that obligation."

A former member of the Champaign County Board and of the Champaign County Public Health District board, Kirchner was a Democrat on the losing side of a split in his own party when he lost a second bid to the county board in 2006.

Former county board chairman Patricia Avery said he "leaves a void in the community, particularly for the under-served."

"He is an example of what I think a lawyer ought to be," says former law partner Blake Weaver. "He believed that our judicial system was the third branch of government, and ought to be treated with lots of respect, and he fought to give the law that respect."

He represented two men who claimed that Champaign police and Champaign County prosecutors violated their civil rights by stopping them from videotaping traffic stops in July and August 2004 and by seizing their camera and tapes. The county and city eventually settled with the two men.

Kirchner used every tool at his disposal, from a written argument to his voice in a political debate.

In 1996, Mr. Kirchner ran against incumbent State Rep. Timothy Johnson. A graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, he practiced law in Champaign County for more than two decades.

He represented District 9 on the county board from 2001 to 2004 first by appointment to fill a vacancy in 2001, and then by election in 2002 to serve a two-year term.

His wife Gerri is also very active in Democratic politics.

Former county board member Matthew Gladney said he learned a great deal from Mr. Kirchner.

"Sometimes we disagreed politically, but he was just standing up for his principles, and he always had a good reason," Gladney said.

Weaver said he considered his former partner a mentor.

"He was a true warrior. Bob worked harder than anyone I know; when you hired Bob, you got all of him. The causes he believed in, they had his full attention and energy," he said.

Fellow attorneys recalled that Mr. Kirchner had once sued over a call in a softball game.

"That was just his nature," Weaver said. "He believed everybody was supposed to be responsible for their actions. He called me on some of my decisions, too; we went round and round on a lot of things, but that never stopped us from being friends."

"That's emblematic of his passion for justice. He aggressively sought justice at every turn," Bruno said.

Avery said Mr. Kirchner did an "enormous" amount of work for her Champaign-Urbana Area Project.

"He was one of the great guys you can trust who will be there for you, a man of great honor and dignity," she said. "He had a lot of compassion for people, he was always there for the people who just did not have anywhere else to turn."

Abernathy agreed.

"His love for justice, his knowledge of the law, his commitment to the poor and needy and downtrodden there was no one else like him," she said.