Community champion Joseph ‘Joe’ Ament dies at 88

Joseph Ament was a popular professor who loved teaching and an accomplished attorney who loved the law, but his greatest sources of passion and pride were Jewish life, family and community.

Ament died April 5 after a brief illness at age 88.

In addition to serving on the JUF Board of Directors from 1988-1996, Ament was a past chair and member of JUF’s Hillel and Next Gen Engagement Committee and a long-serving member on the Audit, Investment, and Legacies & Endowments Committees.

He was actively engaged in synagogue and religious life, both at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El in Highland Park–where he was involved for well over 40 years–and more recently at Congregation Yehuda Moshe in Lincolnwood.

Long devoted to Jewish day school education, Ament was a lifetime member of the Board of Directors of Ida Crown Jewish Academy (ICJA), where he spent 40 years as the President of the Academy Associates and chaired many committees and several dinners. He and Susan, his wife of 59 years, were honorees at the ICJA 1988 Dr. Edward A. Crown Scholarship dinner.

The couple also have been proud supporters of No Shame On U, a mental health advocacy organization founded by their daughter, Miriam.

Ament had two concurrent, lifelong careers: He was both a CPA who served as Professor of Accounting and Taxation at Roosevelt University for over 50 years, including 19 years as Department Chair, and a founding principal of Much Shelist, where he practiced law for half a century.

As an attorney, he participated extensively in restitution litigation brought on behalf of Holocaust victims and their heirs.

With a bachelor’s in accounting from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Ament held an MBA from Roosevelt University and a JD from University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2020, he was honored with the Dean’s Alumni Award by Roosevelt’s Heller School of Business.

“Joe was always a leader with important ideas,” said Dr. Steven B. Nasatir, JUF Executive Vice Chairman. “Whether it was about service for college age Jewish students, or Jewish education, reparations, Israel or administrative insights, he was a man of all seasons.”

He is survived by his wife, Susan Ament, and the couple are Golden Givers to the JUF Annual Campaign. Ament also is survived by his children Jonathon (Amy) Ament, Jeremy (Niva) Ament and Miriam (David) Forman; grandchildren Yakira (Ari), Tali (Matanel), Gabi (Yair), Ezra, Joshua, Nadiv, Adina, Ayelet and Osher; great-grandchild David Achiya; and brothers Marvin (Judith) Ament and Ronald (Barbara) Ament. Funeral services were conducted by Chicago Jewish Funerals, with interment In Israel. Memorial contributions may be made to No Shame On U, to Ida Crown Jewish Academy, or to another charity of your choice.