Perry worked in private law practice in Chicago, Illinois from 1928 until 1933, when he began working as a master in chancery in DuPage County, Illinois and as a private lawyer in Wheaton, Illinois. In 1936, Perry was elected to the Illinois Senate as a Democrat from the 41st district. He served from 1937 until 1943 and served as a floor leader for Governor Henry Horner. He served in the Illinois Militia from 1942 to 1944. In 1943, Perry returned to private law practice in Wheaton. He was the last Democrat from DuPage County to serve in the Illinois Senate until Tom Cullerton of Villa Park seventy years later. After World War II, Perry was unsuccessful in efforts to be elected as a state senator and a congressman, largely because he was a Democrat in heavily Republican DuPage County. Perry remained a lawyer in Wheaton until he became a federal judge in 1951. Perry also worked from 1949 until 1951 as DuPage County's public administrator.
During his tenure, Perry presided over a large number of high-profile trials, including an 18-month-long wrongful-death suit initiated by the survivors and family members of two members of the Black Panther Party who were killed during a 1969 raid on the group's headquarters. At the end of the trial, which at that time was the longest trial before a federal court jury in United States history, Perry dismissed all charges against law enforcement officials who had been sued for $47 million in a wrongful-death suit when jurors could not reach a verdict. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit eventually overturned Perry and ordered a new trial, but an out-of-court settlement eventually was reached.
Mastodon discovery
On October 16, 1963, a man named Marshall Erb was excavating a pond in the back yard of Perry's house, at 683 Riford Road in Glen Ellyn, Illinois when Erb found a large, 42-inch bone. The bone was taken to a geologist at Wheaton College in nearby Wheaton, who judged it to be the fossilized bone of a prehistoric mastodon that became extinct more than 8,000 years ago. Diggers uncovered more bones, and Perry then gave Wheaton College permission to excavate the site. Geologists eventually found more than 100 of the mastodon's 211 bones, including the complete skull with well-preserved teeth. Geologists eventually reassembled the mastodon skeleton, and it is now on display at Wheaton College's Meyer Science Center. The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County purchased much of Perry's estate in 1995 for $312,500.
Death
Perry died on February 18, 1984, at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, Illinois. Perry was survived by his wife, Nelle, and two children.
