Marian "Cindy" Pritzker, family matriarch and aunt of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, dies at 101
Marian "Cindy" Pritzker, the matriarch of one of Chicago's most powerful and generous families and the aunt of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, died this past weekend.
Mrs. Pritzker died Saturday. She was 101.
Mrs. Pritzker was born in 1923 to Judge Hugo and Sadie Friend. Judge Friend famously heard the case of the 1919 Black Sox scandal in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused criminally of throwing the World Series as for a payout, Mrs. Pritzker's obit noted.
Mrs. Pritzker grew up in the Kenwood neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. She attended Hyde Park High School in the Woodlawn neighborhood and Grinnell College in Iowa, as noted in a published obituary.
Mrs. Pritzker met her future husband, Jay Pritzker, in Eagle River, Wisconsin, when she was 13 and their respective families had houses on the same lake.
The couple was married on Aug. 31, 1947, and Mr. Pritzker went on to found the Hyatt Corporation. Mr. Pritzker died in 1999.
After Mr. Pritzker's death, Mrs. Pritzker commissioned architect Frank Gehry to create the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park. Also, while on the board of the Chicago Public Library, she helped get the Harold Washington Library built.
Mrs. Pritzker and her husband co-founded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which her obituary says is widely considered the architecture equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
Mrs. Pritzker leaves behind four children — Tom, John, Dan, and Gigi — along with 14 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
Thomas Pritzker took over The Pritzker Organization and as executive chairman of Hyatt after his father's death. His son, Jason Pritzker, is managing director and vice chairman of The Pritzker Organization.
Jay Pritzker's brother, the late Donald Pritzker, was the father of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker; Penny Pritzker, who served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Barack Obama; and Pritzker Group managing parker Anthony Pritzker. Another of Jay Pritzker's brothers, the late Robert Pritzker, is the father of Pritzker Military Museum & Library founder Jennifer Pritzker and former child actress Liesel Pritzker, along with daughters Linda and Karen and son Matthew.
Gov. Pritzker issued a statement Monday emphasizing the important role his aunt played in his life.
"When my father died and my mother was ill and I was just 12 years old, she and my uncle Jay took me in and made sure I felt safe and loved," he wrote. "I would not be who I am today without her love, laughter, and kindness."
A private service will be held for Cindy Pritzker.
