Fayette County’s Gene Schwarm will be honored for his many years of service as a Judge today. Schwarm, who recently retired as Presiding Justice of the Fifth District Appellate Court, will be honored today with a retirement ceremony an a portrait unveiling at the Fayette County Courthouse. The event will feature remarks from Lloyd Karmeier, who is the Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. The event will be held at 3 pm this afternoon. Judge Schwarm was first a Circuit Judge for the 4th Judicial Circuit for 20 years and for 13 of those years served as the Chief Judge of the Circuit. He was also chair of the Conference of Chief Judges in the State of Illinois for 7 years during that time. He was then appointed to the Appellate Court in 2014 and served for the past year as the Presiding Justice before his retirement just a few weeks ago.