Levy Mayer, the famous Chicago lawyer, who was considered one of the greatest as well as one of the richest lawyers in this country, died yesterday in his apartment at the Blackstone Hotel. A blood clot on the brain was the cause of his death. Mr. Alfred S. Austrian, who for many years has been Mr. Mayer's law partner, expressed the opinion that the blood clot came from overwork.

The death of Mr. Mayer came unexpectedly to his friends and acquaintances because he seemed to be in the best of health. He was at a dinner party Sunday evening in the home of a friend of his in Glencoe, [Illinois]. About four o'clock in the afternoon he began to complain of a headache and returned to the hotel, where he died yesterday morning.

Mr. Mayer was found dead by his servant. The doctors who were called in immediately said that his death took place at about two o'clock in the morning, a few hours after he returned from his visit to Glencoe. He was found lying on 2the sofa where his servant left him Sunday night.

Mr. Mayer was sixty-four years old. He was born in 1858 in Richmond, Virginia. His parents were German Jews. His father was an official of the treasury department of the Confederacy during the Civil War. His parents moved to Chicago after the Civil War, which ruined them. In Chicago they lived at first on the West Side. Young Levy Mayer attended Chicago public schools and graduated from the Central High School. He worked for his living, while studying law at Yale University.

Mr. Mayer obtained a job as a librarian of the Chicago Law Institute at a salary of four dollars a week, upon graduating from the law school. During that time he wrote two books on law. The young attorney began to attain prominence in the legal profession, and rose higher and higher. During the first year of his practice he earned only four hundred and seventy-five dollars, but his honorarium ran into tens of thousands of dollars in later years when he appeared in court as attorney for the greatest corporations in this country.

The law firm of Mayer, Austrian, and Platt which he founded, became the most celebrated legal firm in this country as a result of the celebrated trials in which the firm participated. This firm handled the cases of the Chicago packers, the steel trust, and other big corporations. Mr. Mayer also led the fight against prohibition as attorney for the liquor corporations, from whom he is reported to have received a million-dollar fee for his legal services.

Mr. Mayer became internationally famous. He was a recognized authority on international law. He wrote several important books on international law.

Mrs. Mayer, the wife of the deceased, and one of her daughters, Mrs. Walter Hirsch, are now vacationing in Europe. They are expected to arrive in the United States Saturday. Mr. Mayer had expected to leave Thursday to meet them in New York. Mrs. Mayer and Mrs. Hirsch were informed by wireless of Mr. Mayer's death. Mrs. Mayer is the daughter of the late Max A. Mayer, a former Chicago merchant.

Mr. Mayer leaves three brothers, Jacob Mayer of New York, Bernard Mayer, a Chicago real-estate dealer, and Isaac Mayer, a member of the law firm of Mayer, Austrian and Platt; three sisters, Mrs. Herietta Schlessinger, Mrs. Bertha Litman, and Miss Fannie Mayer; four brothers-in-law, Karl Mayer, Abraham Mayer (sic); two nephews, Herbert and Richard, children of the late David Mayer.

Mr. Mayer was active in philanthropic campaigns, Jewish and non-Jewish alike. He leaves an estimated fortune of twenty-five million dollars.