Obituaries

Chuck Wenk, Business Leader, Dies

Top producing insurance agent, longtime newspaper columnist and sportscaster was 88.

Information provided by Kelly & Spalding Funeral Home and Patch

Lake Bluff’s Charles H. “Chuck” Wenk, 88, a pioneer of the aviation insurance business and Prudential’s top agent four separate times, died Thursday.

Certain names bring a smile to most people’s faces. Frank Sinatra, Jonathon Winters, Ernie Banks, Chuck Wenk. For everybody that knew him, Chuck Wenk was the guy they wanted to have lunch with, because it meant guaranteed laughs, great conversation and you knew you had no chance to grab the check before he did.

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“He was everything to everybody,” former state Sen. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) said. “He was somebody you could always count on. He was a friend to everyone who needed him.”

Wenk’s successful 65-year insurance career, first leading the Prudential in life insurance sales four different years, and then becoming a pioneer in aviation insurance, (after falling in love with flying his own plane in the early 1960s), are almost an afterthought to all of his other pursuits and accomplishments.

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After graduating from Senn High School in 1943, Wenk served as a surgical technician for three years on an Army rescue ship, the S.S. Bienville. He returned to graduate with a journalism degree from the University of Illinois and went right to work at the Milwaukee Journal. His father, Sam Wenk, was a Prudential agent and tried to bring Chuck into the business, but the young Wenk couldn’t imagine any job where you had to ask people for money.

But by 1949, Wenk too joined the Prudential and was named one of “Chicago’s 10 Outstanding Young Men” in 1958. Somehow, he managed to live what seems like five or six lives. He was an Eagle Scout and later Scoutmaster of Troop 820 in Chicago and throughout the 1950s, after meeting White Sox broadcaster Bob Elson, he soon became Elson’s statistician and a third radio voice to Elson and Don Wells on WCFL.

After moving his young family up to Highland Park in 1954, Chuck and his college pal Clayton Rautbord realized that there were no Chinese restaurants along the North Shore and they missed their favorite downtown spot, “The Shangri la,” so they decided to open a Chinese carryout, as a hobby. It did so well that naturally they had to expand to a full-service restaurant called “Charlie Wenk’s Teahouse.”

The bar was always open at Charlie Wenk’s, but difficulty communicating with the cooks made it more than a hobby and when they sold the restaurant to the Chinn family, it freed up a little bit of time, to become a pilot.

It takes many people years to become licensed, but it took Wenk less than three months as he flew every morning before work without telling his wife Gail about it. Instead, as soon as he got his license, he brought Gail out to the airport and bragged to her that he could fly that little Cessna parked by the flight office and good sport that Gail always was she went up with him and soon realized he knew what he was doing.

In fact, he was an excellent pilot, who could land the plane so smoothly you didn’t know you were on the ground. A week later, Gail began flying lessons and obtained her license too. It opened up another “life,” as the family flew their little plane to Cooperstown, NY, and Florida, and added a third pilot when daughter Wendy got her license at 21.

Former Illinois Gov. James Thompson named Wenk to the Illinois Board of Aeronautical Advisors and he would fly his plane to the monthly meetings in Springfield.

From the time he was editor of the Daily Illini at school, to his latest Pioneer Press column Thursday, Chuck Wenk’s columns appeared first in the Lerner Papers, then the Highland Park Star, William Rentschler’s papers and for the last two decades, in the Pioneer Press.

As a leader of the “Save Meigs Field” group, his column about preserving the downtown airport ran on the editorial page of the Sun-Times. After he had established himself in the aviation insurance industry, WBBM radio would constantly call Wenk to go on the air explaining how private plane crashes could have occurred. Wenk would always remind them that the most dangerous part of the flight was the drive to and from the airport.

A lifelong animal lover, Wenk could not leave a squirrel, rabbit or deer unfed. He donated to every animal charity known to mankind. He loved his dogs, Murray and Noelle, and his bird, Duke, more than you can imagine.

Wenk had no concept of retirement, and came to his office every day till the day he died.

Wenk is survived by his wife of 62 years, Gail, nee Wisch; his two children, Wendy Wenk Deeter and husband Rich Deeter, Wes Wenk and wife Cindy; and five grandchildren: PFC Christine Wenk Deeter, Casey Wenk Deeter, Tucker Wenk Deeter, Sam Wenk and Lucy Wenk.

A visitation will be held at 11 a.m. Monday until the funeral starts at 1 p.m. at Kelley & Spalding Funeral Home, 1787 Deerfield Rd., Highland Park. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you toast Chuck with a martini on the rocks with a twist, or your favorite cocktail. For more information please call Kelley & Spalding Funeral Home (847-831-4260).

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