Their son H. Chris Ryan, Jr., would continue his father's path as a lawyer and local judge and in 2010 begin serving as Chief Judge of the 13th Judicial Circuit[4] Admitted to the Illinois Bar on April 14, 1942, Ryan practiced law in Decatur, Macon County, Illinois for one and a half years after being discharged from his military service.

In the beginning of his Supreme Court tenure (Carey v. Cousins, 1977) Ryan opposed the death penalty but later (People vs. Lewis, 1981) voted in favor of it.

[5] In a 1991 interview to the Chicago Tribune Ryan said that he came to have fewer doubts about capital punishment and accepted it as the law of the land.

[3] Ryan was a member of the LaSalle County, Illinois State and American Bar Associations, the American Judicature Society, Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity, the Odd Fellows and the Elks, the Tonica United Methodist Church as well as a 33rd degree Mason.

[6] After retiring from the bench, Ryan worked three years of counsel to the Chicago law firm Peterson and Ross[3] and in a private mediation service.