Funeral Details

Hans-Peter “Pete” Ckuj was born on December 6, 1947 in Nuremberg, Germany, to Teodor Ckuj (d. 1983) and Charlotte Ckuj (nee Faltermeier, d. 2009.) and spent his early years in the Bavarian countryside. A few years later the little family emigrated to the United States, landing first in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village neighborhood, eventually settling in Lincoln Park, at the house on 928 W Montana.

Pete’s highly singular nature came in handy as he spent his youth navigating the mean Chicago streets, honing that sharp-witted wiseguy persona he’d carry throughout his life.

He landed his first job, at the Biograph Theater, in his early teens and spent much of his time there slinging popcorn, tossing drunks, and breaking up the gang fights that would occasionally erupt in the lobby.

The Biograph Theater is notorious, of course, as the place where infamous gangster John Dillinger was shot. A slightly lesser-noted but nonetheless very important event occurred years later in this very same cinema, when Pete met a foxy babe named Maria Borowik (d. 2018)
Their courtship blossomed throughout their teenage years, and they were wed on May 13, 1972.

After spending a few years traveling, partying, and playing rock n roll records way too loud, the young couple mellowed (a bit) and put down roots at the house on Seeley Avenue on the North Side of Chicago. A short time later they produced two lovely, beautiful, and charming daughters, Erica (Miller) and Susan (Litz.)

Providing for his new family was a point of pride for a workaholic like Pete. Ever the iconoclast, he eschewed the doldrums of toeing a company line, channeling his entrepreneurial spirit into more than a few projects, businesses, ventures, schemes, and enterprises. While the overall success of these undertakings would vary, Pete always kept his family fed, clothed, and sheltered (with no small amount of treats, trips, and little luxuries thrown in for good measure.)

When not engrossed in some commercial endeavor or other, Pete enjoyed collecting watches, watching terrible action movies, yelling at the Chicago Bears through the television screen (they probably heard him, too,) and speeding down Lake Shore Drive with the top down and The Rolling Stones blasting on warm summer evenings.

Most of all, he loved playing his role of grandfather Opa to the magnificently marvelous Matilda Miller (d. 2024) and, if anything at all is fair in this life or the next, he is floating on a cloud somewhere with her, doing exactly that.

In addition to his (lovely, beautiful, charming) daughters, Pete leaves behind his younger brother, Tom Ckuj, his nieces Natalie Ckuj and Nicole Ckuj, and a whole bevy of friends, acolytes, cohorts, cronies, accomplices, flunkies, admirers, and collaborators, all of whom would certainly agree that the world is a bit more quiet but a whole lot less interesting without him in it. Arrangements by Midtown Funeral Home and Cremation Options, 773.654.3744, www.midtownfunerals.com