Nicholas G. Manos RIP
Walt
Bankruptcy attorney served as reorganization counsel for Rock Island
Railroad
By Margaret Ramirez, Tribune reporter
6:31 PM CDT, October 21, 2010
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On the day of final arguments in the Rock Island Railroad bankruptcy
case in the late 1970s, attorney Nicholas G. Manos stepped up to the
lectern for one of the biggest moments of his life.
Silence fell over the crowded federal district courtroom as Mr. Manos
looked straight into the judge's eyes and said:
"Your honor, I can hardly wait to hear what I am about to say."
With that, the courtroom exploded with laughter. Mr. Manos' daughter,
Stathy White, who witnessed the moment, said the comment illustrated
her father's intelligence and charisma.
"That really says a lot about the confidence that he had," she said.
"He had a wonderful wit about him, and his presence was unmatched."
After the trial, Mr. Manos drafted a reorganization plan for the
ailing railroad that satisfied all sides. In 1983, the plan was
approved by the Supreme Court and the Interstate Commerce Commission,
making it one of the most successful railroad reorganizations in
history.
Mr. Manos, 88, who was present at the Nuremberg trials in Germany at
the close of World War II and then served as an assistant U.S.
attorney in Illinois, died of natural causes Oct. 16 in his Riverside
home, his daughter said.
He was born in 1922, the son of Greek Orthodox immigrants, George and
Eustathia Manos. Deeply religious, the Manos family raised Nicholas
and his older brother, John, on Chicago's West Side near Assumption
Greek Orthodox Church, where the boys received religious instruction
and learned the Greek language.
Mr. Manos attended Austin High School, DePaul University and then
entered DePaul Law School. In November 1942, two months shy of
graduating, Mr. Manos was drafted into the armed forces.
During naval training, his legal acumen was recognized by the District
Intelligence Commander, and it was arranged that he be sent back to
DePaul to complete his law studies. He graduated in 1943, first in his
class, and passed the Illinois bar examination.
Although initially trained in Japanese for intelligence work in the
Pacific, with the growing threat of communism in Greece, he was sent
to London.
In postwar Europe, Mr. Manos was assigned duties as legal officer for
Adm. H.K. Hewitt at the Nuremberg trials, where some of the most
notorious military leaders of defeated Nazi Germany were prosecuted.
In his unpublished memoirs, Mr. Manos wrote about the trials and
recalled a chilling moment in 1946 when Adolf Hitler's deputy Rudolf
Hess rose from his chair and "stared him down," in an effort to prove
insanity. Hess was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 1987.
In 1946, Manos was honorably discharged and continued his studies at
Harvard Law School as a special graduate student. He then opened a
private law practice and in 1953 was appointed an assistant U.S.
attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
That same year, he was introduced to Catherine Gianacakos through
friends in the Assumption Greek Orthodox congregation. They also were
married in 1953 and had two children.
In 1968, Manos ran as a Republican for judge of the Circuit Court for
Cook County. In 1975, when Rock Island Railroad filed for bankruptcy,
Mr. Manos joined the case as attorney for the railroad's court-
appointed trustee.
Mr. Manos was a leader in Chicago's Greek community. In 1974, when
Cyprus was invaded by Turkey, he helped arrange for a committee of
Greek Americans to meet Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in
Washington to receive a report about why the United States had not
intervened to prevent the invasion.
The meeting, which occurred within two days of the invasion, served as
the catalyst for the formation of the United Hellenic American
Congress, on whose executive committee Mr. Manos served.
Aside from his legal career, Mr. Manos was devoted to his family. As
Mr. Manos grew older, he confided to his daughter that he was deeply
affected by the sudden death of his mother, who died at the age of 49,
when Mr. Manos was 20.
"That was painful for him," she said. "I think that was why he was
always so loving and protective of his family."
Mr. Manos is also survived by his wife, Catherine; a son, George N.
Manos; and six grandchildren.
Services were held.