Eugene H. Keck, 81, of Arlington Heights, a retired systems analyst, died Tuesday, May 7, in The Moorings Health Center in Arlington Heights. Born and raised in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, Mr. Keck graduated from Lane Technical High School. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Northwestern University in Evanston. During the 1930s Mr. Keck played the flute in steamship bands that traveled from Chicago to Benton Harbor, Mich. In his later years he played piano for his friends at the health center. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army. After the war Mr. Keck worked at Allstate Insurance Co. in Northbrook as a systems analyst. He retired in the early 1980s. An avid reader and silent-film buff, Mr. Keck enjoyed watching Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton movies and going to the opera. “He had quite a memory for movies. If you told him the name of a movie, he could tell you who starred it. Or if you named an actor, he could tell you all the movies he starred in,” said his brother-in-law, Erich Mohn. Mr. Keck is also survived by a brother, Paul; and a sister, Eleanor Mohn. Services will be private.
