Marion Kryczka was born June 15 1948 in Wildflecken Germany in a Displaced Persons camp to parents from Poland and Ukraine.  He came to Chicago at the age of two. He passed away on July 30 2022.

He is survived by his wife Martha Barry, their children Nick (Meghan Thomas)and Anna (Bernie Lau),  his grandchildren Sam and Eddie Kryczka and his sister Susan Kryczka .   He is preceded in death by his sister Lottie Kryczka and his parents Anna and Frank Kryczka.

Marion loved his life, his family, his art, his work, his friends, his students. He loved to paint, to fish, to eat, to talk, to listen to music, to see movies, to read books, to see the world and to share those experiences with others. 

Marion grew up in Ravenswood and Belmont-Cragin, attending Our Lady of Lourdes for elementary school and graduating from Lane Tech in 1966.  He then attended the School of the Art Institute, where he studied painting and drawing.  He continued his studies in an MFA program at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

In 1981, he returned to his alma mater at the School of the Art Institute, where he worked until his retirement in 2016.  During his long career at SAIC, he sharpened the skills and inspired the artistic vision of countless young painters.  In the 1990s, Marion also worked with high school students in Chicago’s Gallery 37 program.  Marion was a representational painter whose work spanned genres of figure, landscape, still life, and mural.  His work was exhibited widely both at home and abroad.

Marion had a magnetic personality to all who knew him.  He was a dynamic role model for his children and later his grandchildren, demonstrating what it meant to love life and spending time cooking, playing, traveling, and adventuring around the city.  His great love for art and craft spanned boundaries of genre and form—jazz, boxing, blues, fishing, food, football, literature, history, and the Three Stooges (whom he referred to as his true role models in life).  He was a lover of his hometown and its neighborhoods, as well as an explorer of America’s great outdoors and the cities of the world.

In his later years, Marion faced the challenges of Parkinson’s Disease, which gradually and severely limited his physical capacity, but never robbed him of his passion for life.  He maintained his sense of humor and his appetite for food, art, and good company to the end.  He leaves all of us with the gift of his artwork, but also with a unique way of seeing the world—in which humor, beauty, art, story, and love are all around us.

For those interested in making donations in Marion’s memory, here are two options which were meaningful to him.

School of the Art Institute of Chicago Walter Massey Scholarship: A fund which supports graduates of Chicago Public High Schools to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

https://sforms.saic.edu/forms/secure/donate/donation.php?appeal=21XXSANWBaw0BVswl9geuZSIgHs6D6b5e

In the “Please Direct my Gift to” section, please choose “other” and type in “Walter Massey Scholarship.”

The Japanese American Service Committee:  This neighborhood organization in Chicago provided a warm and welcoming community of care for Marion.  Their Adult Day Services offers supportive services to the elderly and their families.

https://www.jasc-chicago.org/support-jasc/

In the memo section, please type in for Adult Day Services. 

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the care, love, and support you have given to Marion and our family over the course of his life.