Elmer Gertz, Chicago, IL
Dear Chancellor Broksi,
The Maxwell Street neighborhood was a special place, especially along Maxwell and Halsted Streets. It was at the center of Jewish and immigrant culture in Chicago. Many of our ancestors lived or spent considerable time in this neighborhood.
I was born in that neighborhood at Blue Island and Roosevelt Road. It had a great influence in my life. My first father-in-law, Morris Samuels, had a kosher meat market on Jefferson. I was co-chairman of the 100 Year Celebration of the Marcy-Newberry Settlement.
One of my most notorious clients, Jack Ruby, was from that neighborhood. With much hard work, we were able to save him from the death penalty. You can read about that in my book, Moment of Madness: the people vs. Jack Ruby, Follett Pub. Co. (1968). I also defended author Henry Miller. For over twenty years, his novel, Tropic of Cancer, was banned in the USA. I successfully defended the book's publication in Illinois and elsewhere. We have to look behind facades; sometimes art, once considered too raw and earthy, can become respected and even revered.
You can learn more about my life in my autobiography, To life. Carbondale, Southern University Press, (1974) and in Who's Who in America and in Contemporary Authors. I have been a professor at the John Marshall Law School for 28 years.
For the sake of future generations, I urge you to reconsider your plans for demolition of this historic neighborhood. Please back the vision of the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition and be a hero for history.
Sincerely,
Elmer Gertz
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