James Brady

Former White House press secretary James Brady lived at Marina City from 1966 to 1973. After graduating from the University of Illinois, Brady was a lobbyist for the Illinois State Medical Society. He later worked for Thomas & James Advertising.

Single for most of his time in Chicago, Brady lived in unit 3612 in the west tower.

Shortly after the 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan, in which Brady was severely injured, Chicago Tribune columnist Raymond Coffey recalled an incident one year in July when Brady’s wife, Sara, wanted him to get rid of the Christmas tree. According to Coffey, Brady picked up the tree, walked to the balcony, and threw it 300 feet to Dearborn Street below.

Joe Anderson, a friend of Brady’s, who introduced Jim and Sara to each other, says the story is probably true. “It’s so within the realm of possibility with Jim.”

Brady currently lives near Washington, D.C.

Yvonne Daniels

Known as “The First Lady of Chicago Radio,” Yvonne Daniels (1937-1991) was the first female disc jockey at WLS Chicago. She was the daughter of jazz singer Billy Daniels. She started her radio career in Jacksonville, Illinois. In Chicago, she worked for WYNR, WCFL, and WSDM, before joining WLS in 1973. In the 1980s, she was heard on WVON, WGCI, and WNUA. She was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1995.

With her husband, Ben Williams, Daniels lived at Marina City in the 1980s and early 90s until succumbing to breast cancer on June 21, 1991. In October of that year, a stretch of Dearborn Street next to Marina City was given the honorary name of Yvonne Daniels Way.

John Denver

Born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr., John Denver (1943-1997) and his wife, Annie, lived in unit 4707, a one-bedroom apartment on the 47th floor of the west tower. In June 1967, they took over the lease of Mike Kobluk (see below), an original member of Chad Mitchell Trio. Denver joined the trio in 1965, replacing Mitchell, who left to pursue a solo singing career.

(Above) This photograph by Mike Kobluk shows John Denver playing a guitar inside a Marina City apartment in June 1967. Seated on the sofa are, at left, Denver’s wife, Annie, and Bob Hefferan, a guitar accompanist for Chad Mitchell Trio. (Kobluk could not recall the names of the other people in the photo.)

Albert Gaskin

Gaskin (1934-2010) was one of the first African-American Realtors on the north side of Chicago. He initially focused on selling homes to African-Americans in Evanston but over time expanded his clientele throughout the North Shore. In the early 1980s, Gaskin served on the board of directors of the North Shore Real Estate Association. At its peak, his real estate office in Evanston employed 13 sales associates.

The Windy City Times wrote in 2010 that in the African-American community, Gaskin “will be remembered as the real estate agent who broke down the unwritten segregated housing rules that plagued Evanston and the North Shore until the 1960s and ’70s.”

Mike Kobluk

Kobluk (left in photo) was an original member of Chad Mitchell Trio, a popular folk music group in the 1960s known for social commentary. Born in 1937 in British Columbia, Mike moved to Chicago in 1963. He and his wife, Clare (right in photo), lived in unit 4707 in the west tower at Marina City from 1963 to 1967.

Kobluk says when they moved in, theirs was the only completed unit on the floor. “Since it was promised by a certain date, the contractors completed my unit first and continued working all around and above us.”

Chad Mitchell Trio had six albums that peaked in the top 100 on the Billboard music charts. Kobluk continued to perform with the trio until 1968. He currently lives in Spokane.

John Palmer

Former NBC News correspondent John Palmer lived at Marina City from 1963 to 1969. He moved to Chicago from Atlanta. The original developer of Marina City, Charles Swibel, showed him about five apartments and he chose unit 4505 in the west tower. He had a view looking west toward Merchandise Mart, where he worked. (NBC Tower was not built until 1989.)

He was the first tenant of 4505. He liked having a balcony, from which he could check the weather. Despite the four-block walk to work in freezing winter weather, Palmer says he enjoyed living at Marina City. He had a boat and in the summer, after doing the early evening news, he would call the marina and they would have it ready for him.

Palmer worked for NBC for 40 years. He now lives in Washington, D.C., and hosts programs on Retirement Living Television, a network designed for people age 62 and older.

Robert J. Quinn

Fire commissioner Robert J. Quinn (1905-1979) commanded the Chicago Fire Department from 1957 to 1978. His last residence in Chicago was at Marina City. Quinn oversaw improvements in radio communication and introduction of the hydraulic aerial work platform called a “snorkel” that revolutionized urban fire fighting. During the 1968 riots, Quinn directed fire fighters from a helicopter. He retired in 1978 after 49 years of service.

Max Robinson

Robinson (1939-1988) was the first African-American network news anchor in the U.S. Based in Chicago, he co-anchored ABC’s World News Tonight from 1978 to 1983. He then worked at local station WMAQ-TV in 1984 and 1985.

Robinson lived at Marina City until shortly before his death of AIDS in 1988. He lived on the 50th floor in an apartment with a view of Wacker Drive and the Chicago River.

In 1990, actor/comedian Aaron Freeman wrote an article for Chicago Magazine – The Last Days of Max Robinson – recalling his visit in May 1988 to Robinson’s “tiny” apartment. Wrote Freeman, “The 30-foot trip across the living room to the kitchen exhausted him.”

Rumored to live at Marina City but did not...

• Barbara Eden. According to her publicist, she lived at Water Tower Place in Chicago, not Marina City.
• Fahey Flynn. The six-time Emmy-winning radio and TV newscaster, according to his daughter, did not live at Marina City.
• Dr. Robert Hartley. Although Marina City appears in the opening credits of The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart’s character did not live there. The Hartleys lived at 5901 North Sheridan Road, seven miles north, according to The Internet Movie Database.
• Ray Kroc. The most famous McDonald’s employee did not live at Marina City, but one of the corporation’s presidents did. Harry J. Sonneborn, president from 1960 to 1967, lived there in the early 1960s. McDonald’s is headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois.