UPDATED 06/12/12 10:23 a.m.

CHICAGO (CBS) — Famed Chicago attorney Philip Corboy has died at the age of 87.

Corboy died at his home around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday. He was the founder of the prominent Chicago law firm Corboy & Demetrio, and worked as a personal injury trial lawyer for more than 50 years.

He is credited with being a pioneer in personal injury law, and has represented plaintiffs in personal injured and wrongful death cases involving everything from aviation to product liability.

Corboy also served terms as president of the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, and as chair of the Section of Litigation and the Special Committee on Medical Professional Liability at the American Bar Association.

He also served as general counsel for the Illinois Democratic Party.

Earlier in his career, Corboy worked as an assistant corporation counsel for the City of Chicago, where he drafted a successful ordinance forbidding smoking in public elevators. While working as a city attorney, Corboy also argued his first case in front of the Illinois Supreme Court – a case that he won for the city.

Since beginning its survey in 1985, the National Law Journal has listed Corboy as one of the top 100 most influential lawyers in the country.

Two years ago, Corboy and his wife, Mary Dempsey, gave the biggest gift ever to the Loyola University Law School, and the university renamed its law school building the Philip H. Corboy Law Center, according to published reports.