Carol Johnson, 79, of Evanston, passed away peacefully on December 9, 2025 after a 3-year journey with cancer. She was born on May 1, 1946, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, but spent most of her life in the Chicago area. She graduated with a BA in literature from the University of Illinois and, once her children entered school, earned a JD from Chicago Kent College of Law, where she graduated near the top of her class. 

 She practiced family law for decades, with integrity, and clients adored her.

 

Her sons Chaz and Dave celebrate her life as a loving and supportive mother who taught them values consistent with respect for fairness and equality.

 

As children, Carol and her younger sisters, Gail and Barbara, developed a unique and antic sense of humor, which they displayed in skits they performed for their parents, either for holidays and “just because.” Their riotous forms of entertainment continued through their parents’ 45th wedding anniversary, with all the grandchildren taking part. 

 

Carol was an avid reader, and in the early 1970s, co-founded the South Shore Literary Union, which continues today. She was a patron of live theater and music, and developed a love of travel when her parents took her, her sisters, and their families to Sweden, and to Africa, where they volunteered for the Peace Corps. In addition to the Johnson Family trips, Carol and her husband, Greg Sultan, loved traveling the world together and with relatives and friends. Favorite vacations included Israel and Egypt (their honeymoon), Antarctica, the Galapagos, India, Tahiti, Turkey, and visits to all seven continents.

 

Carol was a lifelong advocate for women’s rights and progressive causes. Beginning in her teens, she joined the International Women’s League for Peace & Freedom. By the early 1970s, she was active in the Women’s Movement. She and her life-long best friend, Fay Clayton, played leadership roles in their law school’s Moot Court Society, where Carol won honors; and in 1976, they struck a blow for women’s rights by liberating one of the law school’s two 3d Floor Men’s Bathrooms. This strike for plumbing parity was commemorated by the law school in 1992, when Chicago-Kent built a new law school building and persuaded Carol and her friend to help celebrate the Third-Floor Women’s Bathroom’s liberation with an elegant plaque designed by graphic artist Nicole Hollander. She was especially proud to attend the October 2025 No Kings March despite her illness.

 

Carol’s family thanks Dora Vidad for her compassionate caregiving the past few months.

 

Carol was preceded in death by her parents Ruth(Wakeley) and Morris Johnson. 

She is survived by her husband Greg Sultan, children Charles Rita III and David (Amy) Rita, and sisters Gail (Frank) Bernstein and Barbara (Jim) Hagemann, as well as numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins. 

 

Memorial donations are suggested to Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union.

A Celebration of Life Service is pending and will be posted here. Interment private.

Arrangements entrusted to Evanston Funeral & Cremation, Roland F. Weis director. Info 847 866-8843, condolence and guestbook at evanstonfuneral.com