Ellen F. Solomon

Ellen (nee' Lewis) Solomon, 82, January 24, 2026. Ellen was born in 1943 in Chicago and raised in Rogers Park. She attended University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she received a BA in education and met her first husband, Ken Solomon. They settled in Morton Grove and she devoted her time to raising her three sons. When the boys grew up, she concentrated on her career, serving the State of Illinois including working for Governors Jim Edgar and George Ryan, State Representative Karen May, Attorney General Roland Burris, and Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, supporting election campaigns and founding and leading commissions advocating for women and children. Following the loss of her first husband Ken to pancreatic cancer in 2000, Ellen channeled her grief into family, community, and her "grief girls" support group. In 2004 she found happiness again with her marriage to Ken Tuch. Together she and Ken shared a life between Chicago and Los Angeles, filled with family, travel, movie groups, and Ellen volunteering with the American Jewish University, teaching others how to organize and advocate within their community. When Ken Tuch died in 2020, she returned to Chicago and bravely fought her battle with Alzheimer's disease. Ellen enjoyed hosting elaborate parties, doing crossword puzzles, singing, and authoring poems for family gatherings. She loved spending time with family and will be remembered for her strength of character, vibrant spirit, infectious laugh, perseverance as well as her fierce love of family and heavily-frosted Jewel cakes. Ellen is survived by her three sons David (Tanya), Michael (Bonni), and Todd (Ali); her sister Joyce (Jeff) and her beloved grandchildren Matt (Ginny), Mollie (Peter), Mimi, Jake, Brian, and Courtney. She is preceded in death by her husbands Ken Solomon and Ken Tuch, and her parents Mary and Max Lewis. Memorial donations in her name may be made to ORT, www.ortamerica.org/regions/chicago-region or the Alzheimer's Association, www.alz.org/donate.