Robert Jerrold Brendel

Robert J. Brendel

For 88 years, Robert Jerrold Brendel lived a life of faith, family, and music. He died on Friday, July 25, 2025, just days after the annual weeklong family reunion at Lakeside Chautauqua on Lake Erie-a tradition he began 26 years ago. This year at Lakeside, he led his team to a 1st place finish in the backyard Bible trivia contest and continued his gift for drawing people in with music by leading an impromptu hymn sing in the Hotel Lakeside lobby.

Rob was born in a borrowed car at a railroad crossing in Beaver Falls, PA, on February 3, 1937, the youngest child of Esther and Robert Brendel. He enjoyed telling the story of this unlikely beginning and would add with a smile, "It was cold. I cried."

Following other German family and friends from their church, Rob's parents moved to Chicago in the 1940s for a job with the janitors' union. He grew up in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood-playing in the alleys, exploring everywhere on his bike, having family picnics on the Midway, and throwing crabapples at University of Chicago students.

Rob met his wife, Ruth Hartwick, at The Stone Church in Chicago. They married young and always remembered their early days for the fun they had with very little. The fun continued throughout their 66 years together, even while raising a large family and managing a small business. On free afternoons after the kids had grown, they'd head out on road trips-visiting out-of-the-way sites, always searching for the best homemade ice cream, and finding a reason to spend time at the local library.

Music played a significant role in Rob's life. He and his siblings took the train to Chicago's Loop for piano lessons as children, and he continued to study music at Roosevelt and DePaul Universities. Rob played the piano, organ, accordion, trombone, baritone, and-for his grandchildren-ukulele. For their wedding, he wrote and sang a song to Ruth based on 1 Corinthians 13.

Rob's love of music was passed along to his five children - some more enthusiastically than others! - and to his 21 grandchildren, all of whom played the piano. Grandkids enjoyed bringing their hardest piano pieces when visiting Grandpa and performing in family concerts with arrangements composed by Rob for the other instruments that they and their parents played over the years.

Rob taught himself to tune pianos through a correspondence course, and then he and Ruth opened a business with a loan from their supportive parents. Brendel's Pianos began in 1960 in Markham, IL-a business that supported their family of five children and provided job opportunities for their kids to earn money cutting leather for actions, sorting screws, and gluing on ivories and felts for hammer parts. Brendel's Pianos continued operating until his death; in fact, Rob had been out on calls the week he died. He tuned the pianos of some families for generations, many of whom fondly remember him finishing tunings by playing and singing a lively tune for the children in the house before he left.

Rob served for decades as the music and choir director at Calvary Temple Assembly of God in Harvey and later in Flossmoor, Illinois. He wrote and produced musicals for adults and children and went on a five-city tour with a teen choir, entertaining small churches in the Midwest-sometimes sleeping overnight on church pews. He was not above reprimanding his own children for talking during choir rehearsal, and his children almost never got starring roles in his productions.

Rob was a natural-born teacher with a lifelong love of Scripture. He was asked to teach a Sunday School class as a teenager and continued teaching into his 80s. He enjoyed reading sermons from great historical preachers-occasionally including dramatic impersonations for his classes. His personal library was wide-ranging, from Bible commentaries and concordances to The Far Side comic books, early Flip Wilson and Redd Foxx comedy albums, the New Christy Minstrels, and a large hymnal collection.

Rob was a woodworker who built custom cabinetry and furniture, installed his own hardwood flooring, and in later years, created whimsical children's toys that he made for the express purpose of giving away. His skills came in handy as he also owned and managed apartment buildings across the south suburbs of Chicago. His hard work in these buildings followed in the footsteps of both his father and father-in-law, who had made their livings working as janitors in apartment buildings.

Rob is survived by his wife, Ruth, and their five children: Lora Poucher (Edward), Marcia Asdal, Robert Jr. (Xia Kui), Janet Carey (Clark), and Gail Viechnicki (Peter); 21 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister, Merilyn Burgess, and brother, Richard Brendel (Anne). He was preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Esther Brendel.

Visitation will take place from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 14, 2025, at Anderson Memorial Home, 21131 Renwick Road, Plainfield, IL 60544.

The funeral will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, August 15, 2025, at Christ Church, 501 Oak Brook Road, Oak Brook, IL 60523.

Private burial will be at Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago, IL, at a later date.

Memorial gifts may be given to these two organizations that Rob supported for many years:

Love Packages

220 Union Street

Butler, IL 62015

217/532-6701

Pacific Garden Mission

1458 S Canal Street

Chicago, IL 60607

312/492-9410