This week's Patch Portraits also features a Skokie mosque leader who's building a community and an Oak Park basketball coach turning his illness into a message. After recently leaving Highland Park's Cairo Animal Hospital, where he was employed for 24 years, veterinarian Ben Shechter began taking on house calls as his main means of employment. "I slowly built up through the phone book and word of mouth a small following, and I've been doing them ever since," said Shechter.  Earlier: Check out the entire Parth Portrait archives. Shechter told Patch he can do pretty much everything …

This week's Patch Portraits also feature Northbrook's community rabbi and Evanston's C.A.R.E.-giver. David Rousso came to the Highland Park Art Center about four years ago when he was asked to help assess its health as an organization. Rousso stayed on with the center to help it reorganize, and since it has reemerged as a thriving organization. Earlier: Check out all the Patch Portrait archives. "Over the course of the last three and a half years this place has really come into full fruition," said Rousso, who continues to work with the center as a board member. His wife, Gabrielle, came to …

This week's Patch Portraits also features Niles' "Mr. Canoe," and Winnetka's sporting social entrepreneur. For Glenview Farmers Market Manager Roxanne Junge, it’s all about eating fresh and knowing where your food comes from. "If you talk about a supply chain for your food, it's the farmer and it's you--if you get to know your farmer then you really get to know your food," Junge said. "It started with chard," said Junge, referring to the leafy greens her mother grew in their garden when she was young. "It was something about that cool connection between the garden and my plate that stuck with…

This week's Patch Portraits also highlight one Evanston couple opening their home to adventure in Argentina and Des Plaines' dance studio owner for more than two decades. "It's going to be bittersweet because the friendships you make are like family," said Annette Gramatis, as she sat behind the counter on one of the last days her store would be open for business. Gramatis's husband Jim owned and operated Demas Foods and Liquors in Wilmette for the past 54 years. Earlier: Check out all the Patch Portrait archives. The store was sold to the young couple seven years after Gramatis' father …

This week's Patch Portraits also feature Skokie's 'Golden Gloves' boxer and the powerful duo behind Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry. After living in her “personal sanctuary” for 30 years, Joyce Marcus has decided it’s time for a change and has put her $2.7 million home up for sale. What some may not know about this Riverwoods property is that it was designed by one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s youngest apprentices, Arthur Dennis Stevens. Earlier: Check out all the Patch Portrait archives. Marcus first met Stevens in a Des Plaines office building where the duo worked. Stevens had designed that …

This week's Patch Portraits also feature Wilmette's barber family and Morton Grove's bookworm nurturer. Every old wooden sign, rusty metal tool, faded document and black and white photo in the Northbrook Historical Society holds a story inside. As president of the society, it is Judy Hughes’ job to unlock that tale. Step into the building, pick up an object, and Hughes can tell you its story. The thermostat that says “Reiland & Bree” came from a now defunct truck manufacturer that opened in the 1920s at Walters and Waukegan Avenue. A sign that reads “Bartelme’s” advertises the inn where the …

This week's Patch Portraits also feature a Glencoe police cop who saves birds and a Niles cancer survivor who became an author. For Rhonda Penzell, a change in careers led to changing lives. After years of working is sales, Penzell decided to leave her job and found A Big Blast Project, a non-profit specializing in fun physical therapy for kids. "I decided to get back to what I was passionate about," the Glenview woman told Patch. "It's what I studied in college and I've been volunteering since high school." Related: Big Blast celebrates cross-country charity bike ride to raise money and …

This week's Patch Portraits also feature Evanston's hot dog stand entrepreneur and Des Plaines' mayor. The streets of downtown Highland Park were crowded with shoppers this past weekend to cruise the sidewalks full of sales. Sponsored by the Highland Park Chamber of Commerce, the event has been happening for the past four decades. This was its 38th year. Julie Silverman, a resident visiting the sale on Sunday, said, "I've been coming to the sidewalk sale since I was in high school. Every year we look forward to it." (Earlier: Check out the entire Patch Portrait Series archives.) Stores along …

This week's Patch Portrait series also features a Skokie shortstop pursuing his big league dreams. By now you may have heard of Max and his unique trick. After rescuing the Labrador from Riverwood’s animal shelter Orphans of the Storm, Max’s owner Keith Sanderson decided to teach his pup more than the normal game of fetch. Every morning the duo hit Deerfield’s streets looking for trash to pick up. Max spots things like bottles and cans, retrieves them and brings them to Sanderson to be recycled. Check out archives of the entire Patch Portrait series. Patch first wrote about Max’s green habits…

This week's Patch Portrait series also features Wilmette's piano man and Morton Grove's Lady Violet. The words humble, influential and successful do not even begin to describe former Glenbrook North football, wrestling and baseball coach Harold "Sam Samorian." A Rockford native, Samorian graduated from Rockford East High School before attending Drake and Illinois State University. After time spent in the Army, Samorian earned his degree from ISU in 1955 and began his teaching career in central Illinois before moving to Northbrook in 1958. Samorian's first year as head football coach came in …

This week's series of Patch Portraits also features the Winnetka fire chief and Niles' "Uncle Pete." Executive VP at Glenview State Bank and an involved Glenview resident, David Kreiman's community roots run deep. "It's a different beast," said Glenview State Bank Executive Vice President and involved community member David Kreiman, of the bank he has worked at for almost 20 years.   As Executive Vice President, Kreiman mostly oversees different aspects of the customer service side of the business, focusing on how the bank can generally better serve its clients. But Kreiman sees his and the …

This week's Patch Portraits also features an American Legion leader and veteran from Des Plaines. Steve Greenberg is not an environmentalist. But he understands why you might mistake him for one. Greenberg's passion has become his pursuit. The Highland Park resident started a volunteer program at Heller Nature Reserve more than two decades ago on mission to remove the buckthorn that had infested the area. He recently published a book of photos documenting the way Heller Nature Reserve has changed during his time devoted to the area. Titled Fire and Ice for a Local Planet, the book is a photo …

This week's Patch Portraits feature a Skokie Scout organizing a 5k to earn his Eagle Scout status, and a homeless advocate from Oak Park who has more than 1,600 followers on Twitter.  When Michael Gottlieb was 14 years old, he got his first job working at Italian Kitchen, a restaurant staple in Deerfield. After perfecting his craft at other restaurants across the North Shore and the country, Gottlieb now finds himself back where he started, in Deerfield but at a different location.  The Deerfield High School graduate was recently hired as the Townhouse Kitchen and Bar’s new executive chef. …

This week's Patch Portraits also features a Northbrook educator's farewell. Dozens of area residents braved the gloomy weather Saturday morning to learn a bit about the people buried in St. Joseph Cemetery. The cemetery was built in 1843 and is the third oldest Catholic cemetery in the Chicago area. The Wilmette Historical Museum has spent the better part of the last year researching those laid to rest in the cemetery, many of whom were instrumental in the early days of Grosse Point, which would later become part of Wilmette.  The event Saturday was the culmination of the last year's efforts…

This week's Patch Portraits also features a Glenview wine expert and Morton Grove's family of mechanics. Earlier this year, Jeanette Rian Ohlsson left behind her family in her hometown of Östhammar, Sweden, to spend a year with an American family in Winnetka. Ohlsson, 19, decided to spend a year between the end of high school and university working as an au pair, a live-in caretaker for children. She's living with the McCarter family and has learned a lot about American family life in the past five months. Playdates, for one, are a much more formal arrangement, Ohlsson learned. Other things …

This week's Patch Portraits also features Des Plaines' record reviver, Evanston's vintage factory girl and a couple of farmers from Deerfield. A small group of volunteers greeted the 1,400 who walked through the streets of Highland Park Sunday as part of the Jewish United Fund’s (JUF) annual Israel Solidarity Day. Jennifer Fink and Adrienne Kriezelman were two of the volunteers handing out silly bands to the excited children that finished their walk to support Israel on Sunday. Like many of the people walking, Fink and Kriezelman were happy to be there. "This is a huge success," Kriezelman …

This week's Patch Portraits also features Des Plaines' record reviver, Evanston's vintage factory girl and Jewish United Fund volunteers from Highland Park. About three years ago, David and Jamie Baker gave up life as they knew it to embark on a new adventure. “We have four kids, two grandchildren and sometime ago we began talking about things: what kind of food are we feeding our family and what kind of significance do we apply to the food that we eat?” David Baker said about the couple's initial thoughts of owning a farm. “We did a lot of soul searching and one thing led to another,” he …

This week's Patch Portraits also features two Skokie-based men who represent the past and present of serving the 101st Airborne Division. After studying theater at Northwestern University, Nili Yellin ran full force in pursuing an acting career in New York City when she was 21-years-old. Yellin's bold personality earned her a gig at Warner Brothers' start-up music channel, MTV, in the 1980s. During that time, she also landed consistent small gigs as an improvisational actor on Saturday Night Live, where she worked alongside Dennis Miller, Eddie Murphy and Conan O'Brien. Yellin switched gears …

This week's Patch Portraits also feature the story of a 19-year-old Morton Grove grocer who serves up everything from halal meat to fresh orange juice, and the story of the family behind Niles' garden center and oldest business in town.  One Saturday last year, Dan Jariabka helped drive 10,000 pounds of donated frozen chicken to food pantries and nonprofits from Aurora to Waukegan. On Father’s Day weekend, he helped distribute 600 pounds of fish freshly caught by a group of men who go fishing together annually to fight hunger. The 58-year Northbrook resident is also a regular in the back room…

This week's Patch Portraits also highlight one woman's hopes of a renovated Des Plaines Theatre and the top priorities for Glenview's fire chief. For high school seniors, these next few weeks before graduation are full of reflection on years past and excitement for years to come. When he graduates from New Trier next month, Jeremy Levine-Drizin will undoubtedly think about what it means to leave the North Shore community. For one, he's the senior class president at New Trier and he has left his mark on the school. Levine-Drizin and another student worked to cut back on waste at the school -- …