In Memory of Elaine M. Chaddick

Mrs. Elaine Chaddick, a longtime friend and advisory board member of the Chaddick Institute, passed away on June 6, 2002.   We reprint the following obituary from the Chicago Sun-Times.

Elaine M. Chaddick, 88, philanthropist

June 6, 2002, page 72
By Dave Newbart, Chicago Sun-Times staff reporter

Elaine M. Chaddick, the widow of a prominent developer who built Ford City Shopping Center and the Brickyard Mall, died Monday at Northwestern Memorial Hospital after a bout with pneumonia. She was 88.

The daughter of Hungarian immigrants, Mrs. Chaddick grew up on Chicago’s west side. She married Harry Chaddick in 1955. Two years later he wrote the zoning ordinance for the City of Chicago – which is only now being revised.

“My grandfather understood that good urban planning meant a better quality of life for people,” said Suzanne Hudson, Mrs. Chaddick’s stepgranddaugher. “My grandmother was a huge supporter of my grandfather. She helped make it possible for him to envision things.”

Elaine and Harry Chaddick were former owners of the Palm Springs Tennis Club in California. The couple lived in Palm Springs several months out of the year, and Mrs. Chaddick golfed frequently.

The couple threw two major parties a year at the club, which had many national and Hollywood celebrities as members.

It was in Palm Springs where in 1979, Mrs. Chaddick was abducted and held for three days in a wilderness area nearby. The kidnappers demanded a $1 million random. State police and FBI agents baited a trap with $193,000 and shot it out with her abductors, one of whom was killed.

With her husband, Mrs. Chaddick helped found the Chaddick Institute of Urban Development at DePaul University. She also helped start the Harry and Elaine Chaddick Foundation, which focused on children with special needs and urban development.

 When Harry Chaddick died in 1994, Mrs. Chaddick assumed control of the foundation and Institute.

 “She took over the helm of the Institute and helped it progress into a nationally known education center for urban planners,” Hudson said.

 In addition to Hudson, Mrs. Chaddick is survived by another stepgranddaughter, several nieces and nephews.

 A funeral mass will be offered at 10 a.m. today at Holy Name Cathedral, 735 N. State, followed by a burial at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston.