Robert Salomon, 67, a versatile commercial photographer in Chicago for 22 years, died of a heart attack Monday, Oct. 28. He was eating breakfast at a Near North Side diner when he collapsed, said his wife of 17 years, Martha Claffey.
Among Mr. Salomon’s more well-known prints was a colorful view of the Chicago skyline photographed for Bank One, formerly First Bank of Chicago. The photograph was featured on millions of credit cards, as well as on bank machines, television commercials and billboards.
He often worked in exotic locales, including Alaska and Mexico, and once photographed Rolex watches on a nuclear submarine in the Atlantic Ocean. Friends also admired his portraits. One photo, a sumo wrestler holding a baby, became a favorite of his colleague Marty Bernstein.
“He captured this look of tenderness in this huge man, along with the fragility of the infant. He saw the world in the contrasts of its humanity,” Bernstein said.
In the early 1950s, Mr. Salomon and his identical twin brother, Artie, enlisted in the Army and took photographs for The Stars and Stripes, a military newspaper. Upon returning to New York, Mr. Salomon began traveling worldwide as a freelancer for Time-Life, photographing earthquakes, wars and revolutions, his wife said.
In 1964, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in advertising photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology. While pursuing a marketing degree from Columbia University, he began work filming and photographing for several New York advertising agencies.
In 1976 he moved to Dallas to teach photography at the University of Texas at Austin. He also photographed and filmed television commercials for clients including Pepsi, Esquire magazine, Jax beer and Ocean Spray.
In 1979 Mr. Salomon began dividing his time between Dallas and Chicago, where he opened his commercial photography studio. He was living in Chicago before his death. His brother died in 1970.
Other survivors include his mother, Elsie Salomon; a son, Marc; two daughters, Missy Monroe and Amy Douglass; and three grandsons. A memorial service will be held 4 p.m. Thursday in Piser Chapel, 5206 N. Broadway, Chicago.
