Sunny Ann Wirtz, 70, Matriarch of family that owns Hawks
Matthew Kruk
SUNNY ANN WIRTZ | 1939-2010: Matriarch of family that owns Hawks
Championed search for diabetes cure
March 3, 2010
BY CHERYL V. JACKSON cjac...@suntimes.com
Sunny Ann Wirtz was a hockey fan with an affinity for the Chicago
Blackhawks.
"That was her passion," said her daughter, Laurie Jenkins of Glenview.
"She never wanted to miss a game."
She merged her two loves in a way when she met, fell in love with and
wed Arthur M. Wirtz Jr. of the Blackhawks-owning Wirtz family.
Mrs. Wirtz died Sunday at Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview following a
battle with cancer. She was 70.
It seems she was all about sports -- from beginning to end.
Born Sunny Ann Soldwedel on April 3, 1939, in Pekin, she was named after
a racehorse on which her father placed a winning bet while on a business
trip to Chicago.
Mrs. Wirtz spent part of her childhood on a dairy farm, where she had a
pony.
Her family moved to Madison, Wis., after her sophomore year of high
school, and she attended Wayland Academy, a boarding school in Beaver
Dam, Wis.
After high school, she attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
where she studied home economics. She left school after two years when
her family moved to Chicago and she went to work for Carson Pirie Scott
& Co., where she was a buyer before marrying.
The couple met through their parents, who were friends and lived in the
same Chicago apartment building.
They married in 1962 within six months of dating.
"It was a whirlwind," Jenkins said. "I guess they fell in love quickly."
Her husband died in 1996. He was vice president of the Blackhawks for
about 40 years, general manager of the old Chicago Stadium in the 1960s
and was vice president of the Wirtz Corp. and Wirtz Realty.
Mrs. Wirtz enjoyed fishing, whether luring muskie and walleye in the
north woods of Wisconsin or angling for mahi-mahi and marlin on the
family's annual trips to the Bahamas.
"She'd done it since she was a kid," her daughter said.
Mrs. Wirtz saw most of the Blackhawks' 1961 Stanley Cup march. And she
was often found in the team colors.
"She was always decked out in red and black and white."
She watched most of the recent Olympic games, of course keeping an eye
on the hockey contests, Jenkins said.
Quick to host friends' wedding showers and milestone celebrations, Mrs.
Wirtz often got together with pals for gourmet dinners.
She was vice president of the board of directors of the Washington
Square Health Foundation, which provides health-care grants to
hospitals.
She was particularly proud of the "five-year plan to find a functional
cure for diabetes," said board president and longtime family friend Dr.
Angelo Creticos. The grant made possible a one-of-its-kind diabetes
conference that brought together scientists from all over the world and
from a variety of science disciplines. Scientists are ready to test a
breakthrough idea. Mrs. Wirtz was hoping to see that project to fruition
before she died.
Mrs. Wirtz also volunteered at the Henrotin Hospital in Chicago, where
she was very active in the Women's Auxiliary, organized fund-raisers and
managed the hospital canteen.
Also surviving her are sons Arthur M. Wirtz III of Glenview and James
Wirtz of Chicago; a brother, David Soldwedel, and sister Sue Wollin,
both of Oregon, Wis.
Visitation is 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Donnellan Family Funeral Home,
10045 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie. The funeral is 10 a.m. Friday at Fourth
Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut. Interment will be at Ivanhoe
Cemetery in Ivanhoe.