Designed homes, Hometown church

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Kill

Updated: January 10, 2012 8:14AM

Robert Francis Kill designed many homes and commercial properties during his career as an architect, but the one that stood out in his own mind was Our Lady of Loretto Church in Hometown.

“We were parishioners there,” said Mr. Kill’s daughter, Susan Kegan. “He was really proud to do that church.”

The design was ahead of its time because the church, rectory and convent all were included in a single structure, Kegan said.

Mr. Kill, a longtime Morgan Park neighborhood resident who most recently lived in Grand Beach, Mich., died Nov. 30 at St. Anthony Medical Center in Michigan City, Ind. He was 87.

Mr. Kill also designed the house in Morgan Park in which he raised his family with his late wife, Jean Marie.

He later designed family homes in Naples, Fla., and Grand Beach.

In addition to spening many years running his architectural firm, he also served for a time as the deputy commissioner of Chicago’s building department, for which he wrote the city’s first handicap ordinance in the 1970s.

Mr. Kill grew up in the city’s Grand Crossing neighborhood and attended St. Columbanus Grammar School and Leo High School and graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology

He served in the Navy in World War II.

He is also survived by three other daughters, Tina Kelly, Melanie Kill and Robin McCarthy; a sister, Rosemary Kenny; and nine grandchildren. Services have been held.