Richard Barancik was the last surviving member of the Monuments Men, a group of around 400 who worked to help protect, preserve, and return cultural items, art, and other significant artifacts affected by or stolen during World War II.
- Died: July 14, 2023 (Who else died on July 14?)
- Details of death: Died in Chicago at the age of 98.
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Richard Barancik’s legacy
A lifelong Chicagoan, Barancik was an accomplished architect and artist, though he was best known as the last surviving member of the Monuments Men. The group’s efforts during World War II to help protect, preserve, and return cultural items, art, and other significant artifacts affected by or stolen, were depicted in the 2014 film “The Monuments Men”; the film was in turn adapted from the best-selling 2007 book by Robert M. Edsel, “Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History.”
Along with the others in this group, Barancik received the Congressional Gold Medal, among the nation’s highest civilian honors. He attended Cambridge University and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts at Fontainebleau, then earned a degree in architecture from the University of Illinois. After the war, he founded Barancik Conte & Associates, through which he designed many of the buildings that now grace Chicago’s skyline.
When not working, Barancik devoted himself to art and his community, serving on an array of boards, including those of the Latin School of Chicago, the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, The Monterey Institute of International Studies, and the Monterey Museum of Art.
Tributes to Richard Barancik
Full obituary: Chicago Sun-Times
