Richard J Franke

Served as CEO of John Nuveen & Company for 22 years. He died from complications related to pneumonia on April 15, 2022 in New York City. He was 90 years old. Richard was born in Springfield, IL. After graduating from Yale College, Richard served in the Army and then received an MBA from Harvard in 1957. He began working at Nuveen in 1955 and then served as its CEO from 1974 to 1996. He and his wife Barbara made Chicago their home for 55 years. At his death he was an emeritus board member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and the University of Chicago. He served as a trustee of the Newberry Library and the President's Committee on Arts and Humanities, and president of the Illinois Humanities Council. He chaired the board of Americans United To Save the Arts and the Humanities and the National Trust for the Humanities. While a trustee of the University of Chicago, the Franke Institute for the Humanities was named for Richard and his wife Barbara. They established the Franke Fellows program, supporting the research of graduate students at the University of Chicago, Yale University, and Northwestern University. Richard served as a Fellow of the Yale Corporation for twelve years, and its Senior Fellow for six, chairing the Yale Investment Committee from 1990 to 1999. In 1988 he founded the Chicago Humanities Festival joining Chicago's premier cultural institutions in a literary and artistic celebration of the humanities. Richard is survived by his wife of 64 years Barbara, daughters Katherine (and her partner Janlori Goldman and their daughter Maya) and Jane (and her partner Peter Twombly), and his grandchildren Henry and Allie Molner. He is predeceased by his brothers Robert and Allyn, and sister Helen.