Former UIC Professor Morris Barazani passes away at 91

Since the late 1940s, Barazani has been one of Chicago's great painters, a beloved teacher and mentor to several decades of the city's artists. Morris Barazani, a Chicago artist for 60 years, was an abstract painter who taught for many years at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

"He had a forceful personality," said fellow abstract artist William Conger. "He didn't devote a lot of time to complicated art theory. He was primarily a painter's painter. His influence was very direct in that regard."

Barazani, 91, died Nov. 28 of complications from myasthenia gravis in Steuben, Wis., where he lived with his daughter Alison.