The Library of Congress > Linked Data Service > LC Name Authority File (LCNAF)

Weisberg, Lois, 1925-2016


  • [Lois Weisberg (1925-2016) was the commissioner of cultural affairs for the city of Chicago for over twenty years. Born in 1925, she was active in a variety of pursuits before her career in local government. She ran local theater troupe First Chicago Drama Quartet, published a literary newspaper titled Paper, and helped organize a festival commemorating the centenary of George Bernard Shaw's birth. She was also a local activist, founding South Shore Recreation to preserve passenger rail service on the Chicago, South Bend and South Shore Railroad. She also founded the Friends of the Parks to better steward the parks of Chicago. She worked as executive director of the Chicago Council of Lawyers and also ran the Office of Special Events for Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. Her work as special assistant to Richard M. Daley eventually led to her appointment as commissioner of cultural affairs, which she held until 2011.]

  • URI(s)

  • Variants

    • Solomon, Lois, 1925-2016
    • Porges, Lois Helen, 1925-2016

  • Additional Information

  • Exact Matching Concepts from Other Schemes

  • Closely Matching Concepts from Other Schemes

  • Sources

    • found: Lois Solomon, 1958:t.p. (theater producer, director)
    • found: Friends of the Parks online finding aid, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Illinois at Chicago, March 3, 2015:(Lois Weisberg; Chicago-area activist and one of the founders of Friends of the Parks of Chicago)
    • found: Six degrees of Lois Weisberg, 1999:(Lois Weisberg; married to civil rights attorney Bernie Weisberg; former wife of E. Leonard Solomon; directed First Chicago Drama Quartet; helped organize Chicago's 1956 festival commemorating George Bernard Shaw; published underground literary newspaper titled "Paper;" worked for public-interest law firm B.P.I.; executive director of Chicago Council of Lawyers; commissioner of cultural affairs for the city of Chicago until 2011; founded Gallery 37 Center for the Arts in 1990)
    • found: Artful life of Lois Weisberg, February 19, 2012:(Lois Weisberg; ran Office of Special Events for Mayor Harold Washington; worked as special assistant to Richard M. Daley)
    • found: Wikipedia, March 3, 2015:(Lois Weisberg; born 1925)
    • found: New York times WWW site, viewed Jan. 27, 2016(in obituary published Jan. 22: Lois Weisberg; b. Lois Helen Porges, May 6, 1925, West Side of Chicago; m. Leonard Solomon (div.), Bernard Weisberg (d. 1994); d. Jan. 13, Miami, aged 90; whirlwind of civic enthusiasm whose decades of shepherding public arts projects to fruition deepened the cultural life and reputation of Chicago)

  • General Notes

    • [Lois Weisberg (1925-2016) was the commissioner of cultural affairs for the city of Chicago for over twenty years. Born in 1925, she was active in a variety of pursuits before her career in local government. She ran local theater troupe First Chicago Drama Quartet, published a literary newspaper titled Paper, and helped organize a festival commemorating the centenary of George Bernard Shaw's birth. She was also a local activist, founding South Shore Recreation to preserve passenger rail service on the Chicago, South Bend and South Shore Railroad. She also founded the Friends of the Parks to better steward the parks of Chicago. She worked as executive director of the Chicago Council of Lawyers and also ran the Office of Special Events for Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. Her work as special assistant to Richard M. Daley eventually led to her appointment as commissioner of cultural affairs, which she held until 2011.]

  • Instance Of

  • Scheme Membership(s)

  • Collection Membership(s)

  • Change Notes

    • 2010-11-09: new
    • 2016-01-27: revised

  • Alternate Formats