Joseph John Battaglia

Joseph Battaglia, 91, passed away on December 10, 2025, just weeks after a cancer diagnosis. A native Chicagoan, Joe was born on the near west side to Sicilian-Italian immigrant parents and grew up above their family grocery store. Many loved his stories of old Chicago: his father’s horse-drawn food truck, warming pajamas on a potbelly stove, streetcar rides, and family Christmases above the store.

In his early adult years, Joe served in Army Intelligence as a Polish linguist and codebreaker. After training in Monterey, California, he was stationed in Germany, where he liked to joke that he served as a “spy.”

After returning home, Joe went to college and met his wife, Juliana (Julie), in a class at Loyola University Chicago. Their 46-year marriage began with adventure. They both studied for their master’s degrees at the University of New Mexico and then lived in São Paulo, Brazil, where Joe wrote his master’s thesis, and Julie taught the English language to people in their homes.

After returning from Brazil, they settled back in Chicago. Joe worked at a Dominick’s grocery store before beginning a career with the City of Chicago, serving first in the Department of Housing and later with the Commission on Human Relations. He worked initially in the field investigating problematic landlords and later became one of the city’s early IT directors, helping transition his department to computerized databases. He raised his family in the Galewood neighborhood of Chicago, part of St. Giles Parish.

Joe was always a fan of technology—from building computers on the dining room table with his son in the late 1980s to having his Tesla self-drive him on interstate road trips in the 2020s, in his 90s.

Deeply knowledgeable about history, Joe was also passionate about news and politics throughout his life. A devoted reader of the print edition of the Chicago Tribune for local news, he followed national news closely as well across radio, print, digital, and television.

After Julie passed away in 2012, Joe met his girlfriend, Debby Danoff, online. Debby was well-connected in politics and, together, they attended many fundraisers, rallies, and protests. Debby brought new life, love, and companionship to Joe in his final decade.

Fearless, curious, and engaged, Joe remained active until the end. In his 80s, he moved into a two-flat in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago with his daughter and her family. He ran errands independently and even renewed his driver’s license five weeks before he passed.

Joe was preceded in death by his wife, Juliana Battaglia, née Basedow, and is survived by his children, Marcus (Jennifer) and Christa (Brendan Keating), and his beloved grandchildren, Grace, Anna, Gideon, and Fiona.

Those wishing to celebrate Joe’s life are invited to a funeral on Saturday, January 17, 2026, at 11 a.m. at St. Gertrude Catholic Church, 1420 W. Granville Ave. in Chicago.

In lieu of a wake, a casual Memorial Reception Open House will be held the same day at his favorite local Italian restaurant, Calo Ristorante, 5343 N. Clark St. in Chicago, from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. All are welcome to stop by at any time.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to National Public Radio (https://contribute.npr.org/ or NPR, P.O. Box 791490, Baltimore, MD 21279-1490) or to Save the Children (https://www.savethechildren.org/ or 501 Kings Highway East, Suite 400, Fairfield, CT 06825).