Alex Nitkin
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
5 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Larry Deutsch, interior designer and art collector, dies at 84
Interior designer and art collector Larry Deutsch ran his Near North Side design firm for close to 35 years with an adept touch for educating his clients and working within their budgets. 'His clients really appreciated him,' said Stuart Shayman, an architect who worked closely with Deutsch. 'He was very passionate about what he did — and about his profession — and I would say he was pretty close to being a perfectionist. If things didn't go right, he could roll with it but he wanted to get as close as he could.' Deutsch, 84, died of complications from Parkinson's disease on June 28 at his home in Tucson, Arizona, said his daughter Cathy. He had been a Tucson resident since 2000 after previously living in Chicago and Highland Park. Born Larry Nathan Deutsch in Plainfield, New Jersey, Deutsch grew up in Tucson and received a bachelor's degree in fine arts in painting from the University of Arizona in 1963. He worked in San Diego at a retail furniture store before moving to Chicago in 1965 with his then-wife, real estate agent Julie Deutsch. He briefly worked for interior designer Evelyn Mayer before launching Larry N. Deutsch Interiors Ltd. in 1966. Deutsch's expertise in interior design was matched by a passion for architecture, his daughter said. 'My dad never met a wall he didn't want to move,' she said. 'He would move the wall around until he had a great canvas, and then he would cover the wall with art. Many of his clients were art collectors.' Deutsch's work largely involved redesigning clients' homes, but on occasion, he would provide design work for corporate headquarters offices. In 1976, the Tribune's Aaron Gold spotlighted Deutsch's 'striking and unusual interior design work' for a 102-foot yacht that was featured in Architectural Digest magazine. The boat was owned by then-Exchange National Bank chairman Ira Kaufman and his wife, Audrey. 'The boat was very ugly,' Deutsch recalled to the Tribune in 1988. 'It had dark mahogany beams and trim, Mediterranean and Chinese furniture. It needed to be revitalized. The Kaufmans wanted style, but they wanted something comfortable enough so you wouldn't feel that you couldn't touch things when you walked in. They wanted the boat to be dramatic, open but practical and real.' However, much of Deutsch's design work was not accompanied by exorbitant price tags for clients. Practical and attentive to his clients' budgets, he was a fan of any number of moves to get them what they needed. For instance, in a 1981 Tribune article, he termed room additions 'extravagantly practical,' and a convenient way to allow homeowners to get more of what they wanted without having to move. 'Most people are happy where they live. They're just not happy with their house the way it is,' he told the Tribune. Laura Michaud, a Chicago-area resident and client, recalled Deutsch as a designer with a 'great eye' who also excelled at educating his clients. Deutsch decorated Michaud's parents' home, her own home and the homes of one of her brothers. 'I've never worked with anybody who has been as thorough and with (such) a great eye,' she said. 'He also knew art extraordinarily well.' Another Chicago-area client, Diane Malzahn, recalled Deutsch's passion for 'imparting his knowledge to you.' 'When we would go, let's say, shopping at the Merchandise Mart, he was very explanatory about fabrics and the comfort of a chair. He was very into actually making sure that what you were going to sit in was something that you were going to be comfortable with for a long time,' Malzahn said. 'He always talked about the quality of the products that he would recommend. When we look around (our house), we see Larry Deutsch in everything we look at, every day. It makes us always remember him.' In the 1980s, Deutsch correctly predicted that the once down-trodden River North neighborhood was on the cusp of thriving. He put his money where his mouth was, investing in buildings in the 700 block of North Wells Street, including one that housed his business. He later moved his business to a space in the 300 block of West Huron Street, in the 1980s. Deutsch and his future husband, Bill Parker, collaborated for many years, and Deutsch's firm eventually was renamed Deutsch/Parker Design. After dividing their time between Chicago and Tucson for many years, the couple made Tucson their primary residence around 2000. They continued to have a place in Lakeview until about 2021, however, and the following year, they bought a condominium unit in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Although Deutsch considered himself retired sometime after moving to Tucson, he continued taking on design clients until about two years ago, Parker said. Deutsch was an avid art collector who inspired many clients to become art collectors as well, his daughter said. In the 1980s, he collected photographs, including ones taken by noted photographers Robert Mapplethorpe, Alfred Stieglitz, Robert Frank and Diane Arbus. Later, he collected 17th and 18th century porcelain. Most recently, he had become an enthusiast of Native American pottery. In addition to his husband and daughter, Deutsch is survived by two other daughters, Loren and Leigh; a stepdaughter, Julie McGill; a stepson, John Parker; four grandchildren; four step-grandchildren; and his former wife, Julie Deutsch. Services were held.
Chicago Tribune
6 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Chicago Cubs give team president Jed Hoyer a multiyear contract extension
The uncertainty surrounding president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer's future with the Chicago Cubs has been eliminated. Hoyer and the Cubs agreed to a multiyear contract extension Monday, a team source told the Tribune. He was in the final year of his contract. Hoyer, 51, has been in the role since November 2020, when he was promoted to take over from the departing Theo Epstein. Now in his 14th season with the Cubs, Hoyer joined the organization as general manager in November 2011 to reshape the franchise alongside Epstein, ultimately rebuilding the roster into a World Series champion. 'I'm so grateful for the Ricketts family's trust and support for 14 years,' Hoyer said in a statement. 'The Cubs are a special organization with an amazing fan base. I'm excited to keep building on the momentum we have and to work with a terrific baseball operations staff to consistently deliver a championship-caliber team for this great city.' 'Jed and his baseball operations staff have built a healthy player development organization and put an exciting, playoff contending team on the field,' chairman Tom Ricketts said in a statement. 'We are looking forward to the rest of the season and to working with Jed for years to come.' The Cubs entered Monday's series opener in Milwaukee tied with the Brewers at the top of the division, both owning the best record in the National League and second-best in baseball. A dynamic offense has helped the Cubs overcome injuries to their rotation, putting up the second-most runs in the majors, behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, and posting a +116 run differential to lead all teams.
Chicago Tribune
25-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Mayor Brandon Johnson pledges no push for property tax hike after CFO recently called one ‘likely'
Mayor Brandon Johnson is now ruling out seeking a property tax hike in his upcoming budget proposal, an apparent shift in course for his administration after a top city official said earlier in the week that they probably would do so. On Friday, Johnson said he will instead try again to tax the city's wealthiest residents and corporations. He added that he has 'a number' of ideas for progressive revenue, but did not answer when asked to share them. 'The ultra-rich in this city and this state have an opportunity to do a better job in investing in our infrastructure, investing in community safety,' he said. Johnson told the Tribune that 'nothing has changed' when asked about the apparent abrupt switch-up during a news conference. The mayor's attempts to raise property taxes to balance this year's budget were roundly rejected by aldermen. But he said he isn't turning away from property taxes to close the 2026 budget hole because he's worried he doesn't have the votes. 'We've always made it very clear from the very beginning that we are going to invest in people and use progressive revenue to ensure that we build the safest, most affordable big city in America,' he said. Just Tuesday, Chicago's Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski said 'it is likely that that will be part of the package' when asked about the mayor calling for a 2026 property tax increase. But the mayor delivered a clear rejection of the idea Thursday. 'I will not be proposing a property tax increase in my budget. I'm going to continue to work hard to find progressive revenue,' he told ABC-7 Chicago. The mayor similarly did not specify Thursday to ABC-7 what new taxes and other revenue-raisers he hopes to rely on to balance the city's budget. He also said it was too early to discuss potential furloughs and layoffs, adding 'our workforce is what makes our city strong.' The 2026 budget fight will begin in earnest after Labor Day. Johnson, who campaigned promising to not raise property taxes, proposed last year that the city raise them by $300 million to help close a budget gap near $1 billion. Aldermen rejected the plan in an unprecedented 50-0 vote. The mayor's administration then tried to negotiate several smaller property tax hikes with aldermen, but was rejected each time. The City Council's decision, alongside Johnson's opposition to city service and workforce cuts, resulted in a compromise to balance the budget with a fleet of smaller taxes and fees. The largest was a roughly $130 million hike to the personal property lease tax on cloud computing services, a move that affected software services, including many that businesses rely upon. Johnson notably failed in an earlier effort to tax the rich in 2023 when the 'Bring Chicago Home' plan lost in a citywide referendum. The proposal would have hiked taxes on real estate transfers over $1 million to raise money to pay for homelessness services. Many aldermen fear the sort of kitchen-sink approach they used to land the budget last year will be harder to use this year. Several easier-to-tap options have been exhausted, and the city's fiscal challenges have only grown as federal funding cuts threaten the city's already precarious financial position. Johnson's top budget officials have long described property taxes as an effective way to bring in predictable, long-term revenue and stabilize the city's budget. But in ruling out property taxes as part of the package this fall, the mayor may very well have sensed a trial balloon had popped after several aldermen quickly criticized the idea this week.
