Thaddeus W. Tecza’s landscape designs can be seen outside buildings and homes in Chicago and its suburbs. Mr. Tecza, 60, founded and ran Tecza Environmental Group, which employs about 100 people in Elgin. Mr. Tecza died after a heart attack Thursday, Feb. 19, in Key West, Fla., where he was attending a poetry seminar. “His poetry was just like his landscape designs–very colorful,” said his wife, Kathryn. Born in Chicago, Mr. Tecza graduated from Fenton High School in Bensenville in 1963. He earned a degree in landscape architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1967. He returned to Bensenville and joined his family’s nursery business, Adam Tecza and Sons. When his father died in the late 1980s, Mr. Tecza started his own company, which focuses on residential and commercial landscaping. Married while in college, Mr. Tecza got divorced in the late 1970s. He met his wife Kathryn in a church book group, and they got married in 2000. In addition to his wife, survivors include sons Adam and Aaron; a daughter, Beth; four stepchildren, Caitlyn and Taylor Rohlfing, Kenya Carver and Paul Nastali; a brother, Tom; and six grandchildren. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday in Laird Funeral Home, 310 S. State St., Elgin. A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday in Unitarian Universalist Church, 39W830 Highland Ave., Elgin.
