Isaac Wright, 64, a longtime employee of R.R. Donnelly, died of complications related to renal failure, Thursday, May 30, in Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center. A lifelong resident of Chicago, Mr. Wright was born and raised in the Washington Park community. For the last 34 years, he lived in the South Shore neighborhood. He studied music at the University of Chicago, where he was one of a handful of African-American students to receive a scholarship, according to his wife, Donna. The death of his father just before Mr. Wright’s graduation led him to set aside a career in music in order to support his mother. He worked briefly as a social worker for the Cook County Department of Public Aid and for the City of Chicago. Mr. Wright met his wife in 1966 at a social service office in Uptown where they both worked. “It was respect at first sight, I guess,” she said. “Really, it was his empathy for others that attracted me.” They married in 1969, a year after he took a job in the human resources department of printing giant R.R. Donnelly. “He was an excellent interviewer, a listener and was very intuitive about a person’s skills,” said his wife. “One of the nicest things about him was he was just a man of so many varied interests and depth that you could talk with him about many things,” said his wife. In 1996, he retired from Donnelly. While volunteerism had always been a part of his life, “with retirement, he saw that the time was there for him to get really invested,” said his wife. He served on the South Shore Cultural Center Advisory Board, the South Shore Library and the boards of Friends of the Park and the Dance Center of Columbia College, according to his family. Most recently, he completed training to teach adult literacy courses. Other survivors include a son, Isaac Wright III; a daughter, Dana Wright; and a grandson. A memorial service will be held at a later date.
