Mr. Frank Skoff, an exceptionally high-quality, generous and nice individual, taught English at Lake View High School in Chicago, Illinois for many years until his retirement in 1976. He also was the Coach and sponsor of the Lake View chess team. He recently died at age 92 years.

Frank, who was a dedicated, excellent and inspiring English teacher, loved and respected the students at Lake View High and took great pride in their achievements, accomplishments and successes in their later lives.

Mr. Skoff, who was of Yugoslavian Jewish descent, came from humble origins. He was raised in Joliet, Illinois where he attended Joliet High School and Joliet Junior College. During the Depression years, he worked hard to help support his widowed mother and siblings. By hard work and great effort, he supported himself and paid his wa (including room and board and tuition) through the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, obtaining a Bachelors and Master of the Arts degree, with highest honors, in English.

Mr. Skoff, a top-rated chess expert, co-founded the Gompers Park Chess Club in Chicago, along with the late Dr. Max Maslovitz, M.D. (another top-rated chess expert).

Behind the scenes, Mr. Skoff became a giant and colossus in the chess world, rising to become the President of the U.S. Chess Federation. Through hard work and tremendous efforts, he helped organize and sponsor many of the premier chess tournaments and exhibitions throughout the U.S. and the world (including Olympic and world championship matches).

By encouraging and helping to develop young chess talents like U.S. and World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer, Mr. Skoff helped popularize chess throughout the U.S. and the entire world during the 1960s and 1970s era.

On a persona level, Mr. Frank Skoff personified goodness and loving kindness to all individuals he dealt with, including young children, teenagers, the middle-aged and the elderly, doing numerous acts of kindness which will long be remembered by those he dealt with.

Living in the Lake View neighborhood in Chicago most of his adult life in a very modest apartment, Frank used the small amount of his teachers’ pension and the dividends he received from his electric utility stock investments, to quietly donate to many Jewish and other charities to help poor widows, orphans and the needy. He always remembered his early struggles and always tried to help the poor and less fortunate to survive and prosper.

Such a wonderful and good man shall truly be missed.

Frank J. Skoff will never be forgotten

Copyright © 2009 by Murray P. Unger, P.O. Box 46156, Chicago, Illinois 60646