After a 38-year career as a commercial litigator with leading Chicago law firms, attorney William Rattner turned to helping artists and creative groups as executive director of the pro bono organization Lawyers for the Creative Arts.
“I think after a long career as a corporate litigator, he was looking to do something that was kind of different, and to do something that would allow him to merge the legal world he had lived in with helping people, particularly people in the arts community, his son David said.
It was a good move for both Rattner and Lawyers for the Creative Arts, said current Executive Director Jan Feldman. The law group, which began in 1972, “was on the knife edge at that time,” Feldman said. Rattner made some staff moves and reached out to past funders to renew and expand their support.
Rattner, 82, died of natural causes March 16 in the Evanston home where he lived for nearly 50 years, his son said.
Rattner grew up in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. He attended the University of Chicago Lab School, graduating from its program before going on to a final two years of high school at Francis W. Parker School. He got an undergraduate degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1958 and earned a law degree from Harvard in 1961, his son said.
He worked for 38 years as an attorney and litigator for Chicago firms that included Levy and Erens, Hopkins and Sutter and Foley and Lardner, according to his son.
After retiring in 1999, he took the post with Lawyers for the Creative Arts, where a friend was on the board.
His own interests in the arts included theater and music, particularly opera. His wife of 55 years, Gale , who survives him, was active as an artist working in ceramics.
Feldman said when Rattner joined the organization it was struggling with the same pitfalls of hand-to-mouth funding that many of its client artists and organizations face. “The problem with that business model is being vulnerable to one problem being fatal,” Feldman said.
Rattner hired some new staff, retained some key people and convinced the law firms, corporations and individuals who are the primary source of funding for the organization to renew and expand their support. He also re-established connections with the foundation community and expanded the board by adding members from some of the largest law firms in the state.
He initiated some new programs, including regular workshops for nonprofits and start-ups to give them the necessary knowledge to develop sound business practices, develop functioning boards and to secure 501c3 status to raise tax-deductible contributions.
He also established an annual benefit luncheon that replaced or at least augmented the typical rubber chicken affair with arts performances by the organization’s clients. Feldman said the Trinity Irish Dancers were a featured group a few years ago.
“Bill’s model was interesting,” Feldman said of the luncheons and performances. “We got to learn something about the arts community in Chicago. Bill really got the organization back on its feet. In many ways, the organization today is his organization.”
Rattner gave up his post with the organization in 2014.
Rattner had what his son called a quirky approach to collecting objects and memorabilia. He had an abiding interest in Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family, right down to the marriages of Princes William and Harry and their brides.
Rattner’s work for Lawyers for the Creative Arts was in keeping with his interest in helping the underdog, his son said. “His second career was perhaps more rewarding (than his first.)”
Rattner also is survived by a sister, Marian Gootnick; and two granddaughters.
Services were held.
Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter.