In Memoriam

1945 – 2012 Board member Bill Lavicka was trained as a structural engineer and used those skills to restore and even move old buildings.  On Maxwell Street, he saw potential for each and every building to be restored and preserved, and was very vocal in his opinions to preserve them.  Bill held meetings in one … Read More

1928 – 2010 Board member Jack Jaffe introduced himself to the Maxwell Street Foundation (MSF) at a time when the MSF was endeavoring to have a brick and mortar museum. Jack’s contribution was the coordination of a photographic portfolio composed of Maxwell Street photographs by select Chicago photographers, including himself, that could be sold as … Read More

1932 – 2009 Board member Dr. Bill Adelman was a respected board member of the Maxwell Street Foundation (MSF). Bill was not only Professor of Labor & Industrial Relations at the University of Illinois at Chicago, but he was Founding Member/Vice President of the Illinois History Labor Society.  His willingness to share his knowledge about … Read More

1931 – 2002 Musician Jimmie Lee Robinson, also known as “Lonesome Lee” and “The Lonely Traveller”, was an iconic Chicago blues musician who played his acoustic guitar on Maxwell Street religiously. He was celebrated for his 1950s and 1960s session work and a 1990s comeback marked by his 81-day hunger strike protesting the demolition of … Read More