Attorney Frank Nitikman had a keen interest in the arts and culture and for 17 years was a supernumerary, or extra, in performances at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Nitkman, an estate planning expert professionally, also served as president of the board of the Chicago Sinfonia chamber orchestra and chaired the board of the Chicago-based Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership.
“He always combined excellence with decency, humanity and love,” said former U.S. Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi, a Yale Law professor and friend. “Additionally and that made him even rarer, he joined all that with real humor and a love and understanding of music that was truly special.”
Nitikman, 84, died of natural causes Nov. 7 at the Friend Center for Memory Care assisted living facility in Deerfield, said his wife of 51 years, retired Chicago Sun-Times reporter Adrienne Drell. Nitikman suffered from frontotemporal dementia for the past two decades.
Born and raised in Davenport, Iowa, Nitikman received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Northwestern University in 1963 and a law degree from Yale University in 1966.
While at Yale, Nitikman worked as an intern at the Chicago law firm of McDermott Will & Emery. After getting his law degree and a hitch in the Army, he took a job in McDermott’s estate planning department, eventually rising to become a partner before retiring in 2008.
“In a nutshell, Frank was an incredibly kind, bright and loyal guy,” said former city of Chicago Corporation Counsel Judson Miner, who knew Nitikman dating back to their days together at Northwestern.
George Heisler, who led Nitikman’s practice group at McDermott, said Nitikman had “a large group of very loyal clients who liked his work (and) liked his manner.”
“He had a great ability to communicate with colleagues and business associates and most important, with clients,” Heisler said. “They trusted him and were very comfortable dealing with him and of course became loyal clients because of not only his manner but his technical skill.”
Jerry Esrick, a longtime friend and a fellow attorney, said Nitikman was “very smart and precise, and sought after by well-known clients.”
“He was kind, loyal, humorous, very charitable and above all, courageous in the way he handled his illness over a long period of time,” Esrick said.
Nitikman’s love of music was behind his 17 years as a supernumerary at the Lyric. A friend who had been an extra in opera productions asked Nitikman if he wanted to join him.
“He started going, and (the extras would) go to rehearsals in the afternoon, and they got paid like a dollar a day,” Drell said. “They weren’t allowed to sing. And Frank had one advantage: He was tall and he fit in most of the costumes.”
One highlight for Nitikman was appearing twice with famed tenor Luciano Pavarotti in the opera “Elixir of Love.” Nitikman portrayed the notary in that production, and he was the only extra in it.
An even more memorable event occurred when Nitikman played a henchman in a Lyric performance of “Tosca” in 1982. During that production, opera singer Placido Domingo banged his head against Nitikman’s nose, breaking it.
“As I flung my head back at that … moment, I broke the nose of a supernumerary who was standing directly behind me,” Domingo wrote in his 1983 autobiography, “My First Forty Years.”
The poor fellow is a lawyer by profession, but he limited his suit to asking me for an autographed picture and inviting (my wife) Marta and me to dinner with him and his wife,” Domingo wrote. “Let this serve as a warning, however, to all my future ‘Tosca’ colleagues: Do not come near me when I have to sing ‘Vittoria, Vittoria!’”
Drell said that the couple never had dinner with Domingo and his wife, though Nitikman did attend a book signing for Domingo’s autobiography. Years later, Drell said, Domingo sent the Nitikmans an autographed photo which he signed with the words, “Frank, I think your nose looks much better since I broke it 20 years ago.”
Nitikman was the president of the board of the now-defunct Sinfonia Orchestra of Chicago, which pianist Barry Faldner founded in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the late 1980s, Nitikman chaired the board of the Chicago-based Spertus Institute, an institute of higher Jewish education.
“He was brilliant though he never flaunted it. He was philanthropic though he never talked about it,” said Barbara Molotsky, a longtime friend. “He always described everyone he knew as a ‘really terrific guy or girl.’”
In addition to his wife, Nitikman is survived by a sister, Nancy.
Services were held.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.