North Shore Death Notices: Feb. 21 To Feb. 27

The following death notices were added to funeral homes serving the North Shore area in the past week. Those homes have provided obituaries for some of those that have passed away recently. Patch offers condolences to their loved ones, links to their obituaries and notices of upcoming services below.

Chicago Jewish Funerals, 8851 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie and 195 N. Buffalo Grove Road in Buffalo Grove

Stephen R. Ballis, 76, Chicago
Service March 4

Jeffrey Sandy, 53, San Diego
Service March 25

Marvin M. Lebovitz, 95, Northbrook

Merilyn Schiffman née Rosenfeld, 94, Skokie

Dolores Begoun née Hayner, 92, Wheeling

Selma Hoffman née Katell, 92, Northbrook

Donald Ross, 89, Vernon Hills

Arthur Liederman, 87, Chicago

Ted Shapero, 82, Northbrook

Marla Heller née Weiskirch, 81, Northbrook

Zakhar Titievsky, 81, Skokie

Andrea J. Stein, 59, Chicago

Donnellan Funeral Home, 10045 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie

Thomas John McMahon, 87, Glenview
Service March 3

Joseph Anthony Paxton, 72, Chicago
Service March 3

James Gibbons Shea, 59, Glenview
Service March 3

Ann Patricia Nimrod née O'Brien, 87, Glenview
Service March 4

John Michael Wieland, 86, Wilmette
Service March 4

Norbert Anthony Florek, 82, Naples, Florida
Visitation March 4, service March 5

Thomas Vincent Szafranski, 85, Winnetka
Service March 5

Harry G. Walter, 85, Northfield
Service March 19

Haben Funeral Home, 8057 Niles Center Road in Skokie

Allen Ubana Evans, 54, Des Plaines
Service March 2

John W. Lee, 93, Skokie
Service March 3

Robert J. Beckley, 82, Skokie
Service March 4

Benjamin M. Pulex, 18, Evanston
Service March 5

Karn Bura Fister, 59, Western Springs
Service March 6

Timothy Patrick Ford, 76, Glenview,
Service March 17

Mary Margaret Seul Franke, 78, Northfield
Service March 28

Lawrence Henry Miller, 97, Lincolnwood

Olga Lucia Versen, 96, Skokie

Frank Olu Apantaku, 75, Lake Zurich

Leticia M. Martin, 55, Skokie

Evelyn Francis Granias, 13 days, Carpentersville

Thompson Funeral and Cremation, 1917 Asbury Ave., in Evanston

Mary Julu, 100, Chicago
Visitation March 3, service March 4

Allan A. Cousins, 77, Des Plaines
Service March 4

Charles "Chuckl" Thomas Grant, 86, Arlington Heights

Jettie Lee Miller, 56, Skokie

Evanston Funeral and Cremation, 1726 Central St. in Evanston

Robert "Bob" J. Walsh, 88, Rosemont
Service March 5

Simkins Funeral Home, 6251 Dempster St. in Morton Grove

Stephen Kaferly, 70, Wheeling

N. H. Scott & Hanekamp Funeral Home, 1240 Waukegan Road in Glenview

Robert “Bob” Wlasak, 83, Northbrook
Service March 5

W. Gerald “Jerry” Thursby, 89, Northbrook

Frances “Dee” Venema née Moog, 78, Northfield

Weinstein & Piser Funeral Home, 111 Skokie Blvd. in Wilmette

Hilda A. Peterson née Bartel, 92, Glenview
Service March 5

Susan Kahn, 75, Chicago
Service April 24

Ida E. Klein née Weinhouse, 100, Des Plaines

Judith "Judy" Friedman, 91, Chicago

Ralph Wilder, 77, Northfield

Valery Grant, 68, Northbrook

Kelley & Spalding Funeral Home, 1787 Deerfield Road in Highland Park

James A Berardi, 90, Highland Park
Visitation March 6, service March 7

Hazel Cunningham, 79, Lincolnwood

Steven Michael Sager, 58, Deerfield

Seguin & Symonds Funeral Home, 858 Sheridan Road in Highwood and 11 West Belvidere Road in Grayslake

Erwin Joseph Godawa, 93, Grayslake
Visitation March 3, service March 4

Kathryn M. "Kathy" Oelschlager, 88, Grayslake
Service March 5

Aldo Tenuta, 73, Highland Park
Service March 5

Santa Carlo née Sciarrone, 90, Highwood
Service March 7

Geremia "Jerry" Brugioni, 81, Highland Park
Service March 8

Mertell L. Langley, 80, Evanston
Service March 18

Walter J. Jackson, 82, Highland Park

Warren Chien-Nan Chen, 81, Northbrook

Joshua Chuncey Harvey, 33, Peoria

Cassie Lynn Phillips Currie, 11 days, Highland Park

Reuland & Turnbough Funeral Home, 1407 N. Western Ave. in Lake Forest

Stephen Clyde Anderson, 80, Wadsworth
Visitation March 6

Richard A. Hollander, 96, Lake Forest

Loretta Ann “Lorrie” Nacius née Vukovich, 86, Gurnee

Nancy L. Smithson, 71, Lake Bluff

Wenban Funeral Home, 320 Vine Ave. in Lake Forest

Herbert J. Nelson, 93, Lake Bluff

Featured Obituary:

Dr. Frank Olu Apantaku passed away at his home surrounded by his daughters and two of his sisters on Tuesday, February 22, 2022 at the age of 75 from multiple myeloma.

Frank was born Olusegun (“God brings victory”) Olukayode (“God brings joy”) Olatunde (“Glory comes again”) Apantaku in Lagos, Nigeria on August 20, 1946 to Ezekiel Kariola and Mary Idowu Apantaku. As a boy, he was adored by his grandmother who carried him around on her back until Frank was ten years old. As a child, he loved to pull pranks and play sports. He developed an aptitude for tennis and played for the Nigerian national team, traveling throughout Africa playing the sport. Frank’s father believed education was paramount and made him prioritize his schoolwork. He was captain of his class at King’s College (a boarding secondary school) and was well-known for quoting the Declaration of Independence among other notable American writings and speeches, an act that drew ire from the British colonials in charge at the time. (His personal hero was General Douglas MacArthur.) A paper he wrote arguing for juniors to be able to stay up as late as the senior classmen began with “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them” and got Frank suspended for two weeks. While at King’s College, he chose Frank as his anglicized name because he valued sincerity.

Frank’s admiration for the United States grew when he met and played tennis with an American Peace Corps volunteer who shared his coke bottle with him. Frank applied to 50 colleges and universities in the United States, by hand, and only received one full-ride scholarship offer because at the time, most American colleges were only accepting Africans interested in political science whereas Frank wanted to study the physical sciences. In 1967, Frank matriculated at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. He unfortunately thought Maine was Miami, but his father corrected his misapprehension by sticking Frank’s hand in the ice box.

His father’s actions proved to be helpful, because one of Frank’s daughter’s fondest stories of his time at Colby College involved Frank jumping out of a two-story window during the blizzard of 1968 into a snowbank that had covered up the front door of his dorm. He also almost got frostbite once because in Nigeria, unlike in Maine, there was no need to know that going out in damp socks in freezing weather is dangerous. Despite the climate, Colby College was overall a very good environment for Frank. He enjoyed the varied nature of his studies and the focus on critical thinking in the liberal arts tradition. Frank played tennis and soccer for the Colby White Mules, and won several semi-pro tennis tournaments in New England. In his senior year, Frank won the Condon Medal and was chosen by his class, the Class of 1971, to speak at graduation. His dedication to Colby lasted the rest of his life, as he served on the board of trustees, helped mentor Colby students, and consistently gave money to the college so that others could benefit from the educational environment that so inspired him.

While in undergrad, Frank had wanted to go into biological research, but after witnessing his friend being rushed to the hospital, Frank realized he wanted to be able to help people directly with their medical emergencies. At Colby, Frank was awarded an IBM Watson Fellowship and for that fellowship he traveled to India to study culture and the development of tropical medicine. He applied to Northwestern University medical school because he liked being near water and was attracted to the beautiful photos he saw of Lake Michigan beside the campus. While in Chicago, Frank taught Playboy bunnies tennis during his free-time to make extra cash.

Northwestern proved to be a difficult time for Frank. The demanding academic curriculum did not prove to be a problem; however, the medical school’s social politics were incredibly onerous. Frank never made any friends at Northwestern medical school, and he experienced his most difficult instances of racism while there. For example, when Frank had questions during lectures, his first year roommate would tell him to put his hand down because Black men were not supposed to ask questions of White men. Luckily, the chairman of surgery at Northwestern liked Frank and was able to arrange for him to do a cardiothoracic surgery rotation at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Later, Frank transferred to Chicago Medical School (now a part of Rosalind Franklin University) to complete his residency in surgery. His time at Mass General inspired Frank to become a general and vascular surgeon.

After completing his residency, Frank began his practice of surgery. He was a dedicated surgeon to the South and West Sides of Chicago, serving as chairman of surgery at St. Bernard, Norwegian American, Jackson Park, St. Mary of Nazareth, and Provident hospitals at various times in his career.

Frank estimated that he saved and impacted thousands of lives during his four decades of work in Chicago hospitals. During his heyday practicing surgery, Frank could be seen speeding from hospital to hospital in his car (always a Ford because of the influence of a Ford Foundation worker in Nigeria encouraging him to apply to schools in the United States) with the license plate TRAUMA1. Because of Frank’s training in vascular and cardiothoracic surgery, and the increase in traumatic injuries on the South and West sides, he quickly positioned himself as one of the first practitioners of trauma surgery in Chicago before it became a specialty. He also wrote a column on health and wellbeing for the Chicago Defender, and became a hospital golfer, competing in, and placing in, local hospital charity tournaments. His colleagues remembered him as a humble, reliable, and compassionate surgeon who was always ready to help or advise on difficult cases.

In part due to his parents’ magnanimity and the overwhelming assistance of those in the Colby community (most notably Dr. John Poirer and the Vaughan Family) during his first years in the United States, Frank became a beacon of generosity to his family, friends, and the broader Chicagoland community. Frank believed “to whom much is given, much will be required.” He helped his two younger sisters Ebun and Funlayo immigrate to the United States and acclimatize to life in Chicago. He supported their families as he did his own daughters. Frank said he was proud of four things in life: his three daughters Elyse, Elora, and Erisa; and the sunroom he had added onto his house.

Everything Frank did was for the benefit of his daughters and their education. Years before he met his wife, Frank bought a set of encyclopedias for his future children. Frank’s life provided his daughters with an example of hard work, compassion, generosity, and scientific inquiry that allowed them to develop a strong moral core, and instilled in them a curiosity for knowledge and exploration of the world. To this day, all his daughters enjoy reading encyclopedia entries.

Send obituaries and images to your Patch to be included in future editions: Deerfield, Evanston, Glenview, Highland Park, Lake Bluff-Lake Forest, Niles-Morton Grove, Northbrook, Skokie, Winnetka-Glencoe-Northbrook, Wilmette-Kenilworth

Last week: North Shore Death Notices: Feb. 14 to Feb. 20