Soretta Shapiro was a Chicago patron of the arts whose passion for music led her to attend Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances all over the world.
Mrs. Shapiro would often accompany her husband, Shapiro, the late president of former Chicago-based Sweetheart Cup Co., on overseas business trips that allowed the couple to follow the CSO, said her son Earl.
Mrs. Shapiro served on many philanthropic boards, including the Women’s Board of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and Michael Reese Hospital, where she also volunteered, her son said.
Mrs. Shapiro, 90, died Sunday, Jan. 7, in Northwestern Memorial Hospital following complications from surgery, her son said.
“She was the kind of person that always had a kind word for everybody. She had a wonderful spirit about her,” said Sara Chaffetz, who served at the CSO with Mrs. Shapiro.
Born in Chicago, Mrs. Shapiro grew up in the Back of the Yards neighborhood and graduated from Hyde Park High School. She met her future husband on a blind date at the 63rd Street Beach when she was 16, her son said.
The couple married five years later and their appreciation for music blossomed.
As her husband’s business grew, the couple traveled to Asia, the Middle East and Europe where they listened to music of all sorts, her son said. At its peak in the early 1980s, Sweetheart Cup employed more than 2,000 people on the city’s Southwest Side before it was sold in 1982, he said.
Mrs. Shapiro lived in the Gold Coast area for 45 years and would often catch a bus that would take her downtown to listen to the orchestra or to take in an opera.
Following the death of her husband in 2001, Mrs. Shapiro began attending operas with her grandson Matthew.
“He was skeptical at first, but really grew to like it,” said her daughter-in-law Brenda.
Her work with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago led her to Israel where she toured hospitals while on a trip to make sure the money she helped raise for the group in Chicago was being put to good use, her daughter-in-law said.
In 2000, Mrs. Shapiro and her husband were major donors to a building project for the Congregation Rodfei Zedek, said Rabbi Elliot Gertel.
Other survivors include another son, James; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
Services will be held at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in Congregation Rodfei Zedek, 5200 S. Hyde Park Blvd.
———-
mrdudek@tribune.com
