Harry Axelrod

Harry Axelrod passed away on April 24th a few days short of his 98th birthday. Harry was born behind his father's tailor shop on Chicago's west side, the seventh of eight children. Graduating from Austin High School in 1935 in the depths of the Great Depression, he landed a job as an office assistant at a steel fabricating firm. By 1940 he had risen to vice president, and he married his high school sweetheart Margaret Robertson. After World War II, Harry founded his own company, Metal Cabinet & Fabricating, originally located in the Back of the Yards district on the south side, later moving to larger quarters in Elmhurst. Metal Cabinet became a major supplier of specialized cabinetry to the telecommunications industry during a period which saw the birth of the cellular phone network and the beginnings of the digital revolution. The Axelrods loved to travel, and they eventually visited all seven continents, sometimes including extended stays in Scotland from where Margaret's parents had emigrated. Harry and Margaret shared a lifelong regret that the Depression had prevented both of them from attending university, and in the 1980s they began providing scholarships and other financial aid to numerous west side high school students, helping them make the leap to a college education. Before her death in 1989 Margaret was an active educational volunteer at the Field Museum, and after she passed away, with Harry's help, the Museum dedicated a room in her honor. The Field remained a focus of his charitable giving. In addition to numerous nieces and nephews, Harry Axelrod is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, David R. Axelrod and Linda Feferman, both documentary filmmakers, and by his younger sister Milly Sudarsky, all of Los Angeles. Last year on his 97th birthday an interviewer asked Harry if he had lived his whole life in Chicago. He replied, "Not yet!" There will be a private memorial.