Wichita ? Dan Sevart, the former president of the Kansas Bar Assn., died Friday after a brief illness. He was 61 and learned only a couple of months ago that he had cancer.

Kay McFarland, chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court, called Sevart one of the giants of the state’s legal system.

“You could count on him,” McFarland said. “If he told you something, that’s what he meant. In this day and age, I’m sure you know, that’s a rare attribute.”

Over the years, Sevart also presided over the Wichita Bar Assn. and the Wichita Symphony. He was chairman of the Kansas Government Ethics Commission, a gubernatorial appointment, for a decade.

A Funeral Mass is planned for Tuesday at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Wichita.