Funeral Details

Dr. Irving Cutler, age 100, noted Chicago geographer, author, lecturer, and tour guide, passed away on July 24, 2023. Dr. Cutler authored eight books, including the best-seller The Jews of Chicago: From Shtetl to Suburb. Other publications include Chicago: Metropolis of the Mid-Continent which received an award from the Illinois State Historical Society; Jewish Chicago: A Pictorial History; and Chicago's Jewish West Side. He appeared on numerous radio and television broadcasts, and in video documentaries covering a wide range of geographical topics, including Jewish Chicago.
Dr. Cutler also became well known for tours he developed and guided through Chicago's ethnic neighborhoods. Exploring these neighborhoods by bus variously included stops at historic landmarks, cemeteries, public sculpture, and religious institutions, accompanied by stories of their past residents from Nobel prize winners to gangsters. The breadth of offerings included three different ethnic tours, a food tour, a religious institutions tour, a historic Chicago tour, an Indiana Dunes tour, and a Wendella boat tour, among others. Dr. Cutler also gave three different Jewish Chicago tours, the most popular of which was to the west side's Lawndale neighborhood. As one tour member from Gary, Indiana wrote: "Some of the group had lived in Chicago all their lives and were shocked at how much they didn't know. You opened our eyes to another world and we loved it. Thank you for giving us a day to remember." Dr. Cutler gave his last tour in 2019, when he was 96.
These tours were partly informed by his own personal history. Dr. Cutler was born in the Maxwell Street area, grew up in North Lawndale, moved to Hyde Park for college, with an eventual move to the suburbs. For the past 65 years he had resided in Wilmette.
During the Great Depression, for five years as a young teenager, Dr. Cutler helped at his father's newsstand which was located at Madison Street and Racine Avenue in what was then Skid Row. He found the locale, and its people a compelling palette, from the daily newsstand political debates to the hardscrabble life among its citizens. He would later write about that too, and one of the most colorful taverns in the area - Cohen's - which was located adjacent to the newsstand. He once wrote, "the best practical lifelong education I ever received about the ups and downs of life was when I was a newsboy on Skid Row during the Great Depression."
From 1943-1946, he served as a U.S. Naval officer aboard the destroyer escort USS Stewart, making numerous trans-Atlantic crossings that ferried 60 ship convoys through waters also occupied by German submarines. After the war, he went on to receive his Master's Degree from the University of Chicago in Social Science, and his Ph.D. in Urban Geography from Northwestern.
He served on the faculty of Chicago State University for 24 years, 10 of which as chairman of the Geography Department. He also taught at DePaul University. He was a past President and Board member of the Geographic Society of Chicago. In 2021, he received the Distinguished Geographer Award from the Illinois Geographic Society. He was a founding member of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society, and one of the original members of Beth Hillel Congregation in Wilmette. Recently, for his 100th birthday, he was honored for his service to the Jewish Community with the L'dor V'dor award by the Board of Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago which was celebrating its own 100th anniversary. Following this occasion, when asked about what message he might impart, Dr. Cutler said, "know your history, and pass it on."
Dr. Cutler loved and cherished his family above all else. He was always there for them - with his wisdom, curiosity, generosity and kindness; and all of his accomplishments never changed his caring and humble nature.
Dr. Cutler is the cherished son of the late Zelig and Frieda (Wapner) Cutler; beloved husband of the late Marian (Horovitz) Cutler for 53 joyful years; loving brother of four older sisters: the late Bella Joseph (Ralph), the late Becky Zelken (Yosel), the late Rose Pollack (Sam), and the late Dorothy Yashon (Sam); loving father of Danny, and Susie (Joab Silverglade) Cutler; adored grandfather of Carl (Victoria Saunders) Cutler, the late Lee Cutler, Sam Silverglade, and Rahm Silverglade; devoted uncle to Leah Wexler, Walter Pollack, the late Dr. David Yashon, and Tena Graber; very special friend of Arlene Goldberg, and devoted great uncle to many great nephews and nieces, and friend to many.
Funeral service is Thursday, July 27, 2023 11:00 AM at Chicago Jewish Funerals at 8851 Skokie Blvd. Interment follows at Waldheim Cemetery.
Contributions in Dr. Cutler's memory can be made to the Chicago Jewish Historical Society (chicagojewishhistory.org), the Jewish United Fund (juf.org), and Orphans of the Storm, an animal shelter (orphansofthestorm.org). To attend the funeral live stream, please visit our website. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals - Skokie Chapel, 847.229.8822, www.cjfinfo.com