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Henry DeZutter Obituary

He had the street-smarts of a newsman, the whimsey of a jazz-loving poet, and a reformer's distaste for all things unjust. Hank DeZutter, 80, died July 14 of a brain bleed after a fall days earlier in the Lincoln Park apartment he shared with wife Barbara. Hank covered protests and political unrest during the late 60s for the Chicago Daily News, winning awards including one for exposing FBI spying on activists at the U. of Illinois. He helped launch the Chicago Journalism Review in response to the overly pro-police slant editors gave to violence during the '68 Democratic Convention. Hank went on to teach writing and journalism at city colleges and Columbia in the South Loop. There he helped found Community Media Workshop, a program to help neighborhood groups get better press. Meantime, he wrote for the Chicago Reader on neighborhood issues, including a 1995 front-pager on a then-unknown Barack Obama. In spare time, he wrote books, spun poetry for the Chicago Journal, played boogie piano, and made impossibly long golf putts. Surviving are wife Barbara Belletini Fields; her daughters Jayne Mattson and Ana Boyer Davis; sons Max (Sarah), Chris, and daughter Amanda Kotlyar (Simon); stepson Agward "Eddie" Turner; sisters Joyce (Ronnie) Mooneyham and Wendy (Steve) Callahan; and five grandchildren. Predeceased by mother Evelyn (née Dammer) and father Henri DeZutter. Memorial gathering in planning. Gifts to Courage to Fight Gun Violence, Box 51196, Wash., DC 20091, or https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/

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Published by Chicago Tribune on Jul. 24, 2022.

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James C. Kidd

January 18, 2023

Hank was a very good friend and fraternity brother in college, and I always think of him when I listen to Horace Silver. As a musician, I appreciated what a connoisseur he was of jazz, and he turned me on to Silver when we were sophomores. We re-connected later in Chicago in the 60s when he was working for the Sun-Times (not the Daily News), and when he created the brilliant Chicago Journalism Review, making substantial contributions to society and social justice. I was just a graduate student in music. One of the sweetest and most genuine people I've ever known, brilliant and with a wifty sense of humor, a privilege to have known him. My only regret is that we drifted apart as so often happens due to the vagaries of life. Sadly, I only recently learned of his death Hank, you were an original. What a loss to all who knew and loved him. James Kidd

Cecile Regner

July 31, 2022

Hank was a valued colleague at Malcolm X College and will be missed.

Robin Harris and Gary Hasegawa

July 25, 2022

Gary and I did not know Hank well, but we have good memories of lively discussions and much laughter the times we all got together with mutual friends. We wish Barbara and family deep sympathy at your loss, but also good memories of a life well lived.

Carl Burdinie

July 24, 2022

Hank was an excellent journalism mentor, a sincere human being and an example of community involvement and activism. He will be missed.

John Ripley

July 24, 2022

This is so sad. I'm at a loss for words (not something I'm known for). Hank and I were pals since our freshman days at Glenbrook (North) High School, the source of many, many memories of happy times and anecdotes about classroom, sports, and spare time listening to his jazz records, visiting downtown clubs to hear folk singers, musicians, and, well, the list is endless. We read this news with great sadness. May God welcome and rest his soul and give peace to his family.

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