04-08-2025
John Gleeson, attorney and resilient polio survivor, dies at 86
The polio that afflicted him as a boy never left John Gleeson, but it never held him back.
"He's someone who just never let anything bring him down," Gerry Gleeson II said Saturday, July 26, adding that the disease essentially paralyzed his father for two years of his childhood.
Polio caused some life-long mobility challenges — though no one could blame the disease for Gleeson's penchant for wearing black Gold Toe socks with shorts — but it also contributed to a resiliency that made an impression on his family.
"There was no obstacle — nothing was going to hold him back from whatever he was going to achieve," his son said.
Gleeson, who earned a law degree at night while working as a teacher, became a beloved raconteur known for welcoming a constellation of engaging conversationalists into his West Bloomfield home long before he died July 18 at the age of 86.
While Gleeson loved being a lawyer — "he liked the intellectual challenge, he liked being in court, he liked being before a jury," his son said — he also loved holding court at home.
Gleeson and his wife Mary Ellen, who died in 2018, hosted dinner gatherings in which the conversation flowed along with fine wine.
"In addition to all his other fine qualities, he was a wine connoisseur," said Steve Fishman, a prominent defense attorney who got to know him through Gerry Gleeson who, like his father, became an attorney.
Gleeson, Fishman said, had "an unbelievable wine cellar."
The Gleesons' passion for the grape led them to spend many winters in Napa Valley, the region in northern California known for hundreds of vineyards.
Gleeson, known to his granddaughters as "Papa," also savored spending time with family.
Gerry Gleeson said that even though his father was a "fiercely competitive" attorney (he specialized in environmental law and represented businesses), "he'd make a point to be home early to be with family."
Even though Gleeson favored the conservative Fox News network, his experience with polio made him an early proponent of the COVID-19 vaccine, his son said, adding that his dad was "first in line" when it became available.
Reflecting on his father's life and the time they spent together, Gerry Gleeson said one of the things he'll miss most is "sitting around the grill shooting the breeze."
Gleeson's survivors include son John and granddaughters Madeleine, Sydney and Margaux.
Visitation will be Monday, July 28 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Holy Name Catholic Church, 630 Harmon, Birmingham, followed by a funeral mass at 10 a.m.
M.L. Elrick is a Pulitzer Prize- and Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter, director of student investigative reporting program Eye On Michigan, and host of the ML's Soul of Detroit podcast. Contact him at mlelrick@ or follow him on X at @elrick, Facebook at ML Elrick and Instagram at ml_elrick.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: John Gleeson, attorney and resilient polio survivor, dies at 86
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