Obituary of John "Jack" Avrum Solomon

Jack Solomon, an art dealer and entrepreneur who was instrumental in developing the Las Vegas Arts District Neighborhood Association, died on August 18, 2012 in Las Vegas. He was 83. The cause was complications from prostate cancer, according to his wife Carolyn. Jack and Carolyn Solomon moved from Chicago to Las Vegas in 2001 along with the global headquarters of S2 Art Group and Jack Gallery, the business they owned and ran together since 1996. That enterprise, as well as Circle Fine Art Corporation, a national network of 38 galleries that specialized in limited-edition fine art graphics, which they operated until 1993, combined Solomon's love of art and entrepreneurial spirit with his enthusiasm for American opportunity and his fervent belief that art should be available to everyone. In more than five decades producing, publishing, and selling fine-art prints, Solomon represented with unsparing enthusiasm, artists appealing to a range of tastes: from the sleek Art Deco of Ert, to the affecting illustrations of Norman Rockwell, the elegant abstractions of Lebadang, the whimsical inventions of Judith Bledsoe, the vibrant humor of Tom Everhart, the dazzling op-art of Victor Vassarely, and the kinetic experiments of Yaacov Agam, among many others. He believed that art enriched life emotionally and spiritually even as it also could function as a reliable financial investment for individuals and as an engine of development for municipalities. Jack Avrum Solomon was born in Omaha, NE on October 25, 1928, the second of three children, to John and Matilda (Bienstock) Solomon. Solomon earned his B.S. and LL.B. cum laude in 1950 and 1952 from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where he was also active in writing musical revues and as a national champion debater. He went on to the University of Michigan School of Law as a Cook Fellow, where he earned an LL.M in 1953. Solomon began his business career while still a student in Nebraska, founding and serving as CEO of a high school textbook publishing company, which was eventually sold to the Chicago Tribune Company. He began his legal career as an associate with a corporate law firm in Chicago, rising to become the senior Managing Partner of Solomon, Rosenfeld, Elliott, Stiefel, and Engerman. Solomon was the firm's specialist in art and entertainment law; among his high-profile clients, he counted Gloria Swanson, George Raft, and Margaret O'Brien. At the firm, Solomon led important investment deals involving Toyota and Mogen David Wine, to name only two. Meanwhile, he founded Piper's Alley Corporation, helping to re-develop Chicago's Old Town neighborhood with the Victorian-themed shopping center. Among his many civic activities, Solomon served as president of B'Nai Torah congregation in Highland Park, IL; trustee of the Drexel Home for the Aged in Chicago; president of the Fine Art Publishing Association; and President of the Las Vegas Arts District. In 1964, Solomon founded Circle Fine Art corporation, turning his love of art into the successful business venture that would come to occupy his full-time attention and passion. Over the years, as he and Carolyn developed the business into a national force, Solomon's expertise became well-known; he authored several monographs on artists he published and frequently served as an expert witness in litigation involving art and the business of art. After they sold control of Circle Fine Art in 1993 and their non-competition contract terminated three years later, the Solomons founded S2 Art Group, Ltd. and its retail arm, Jack Gallery, and soon moved to Las Vegas to tap into its expansive energy and to enjoy the desert climate. For a decade, their offices and their atelier -- featuring rare Marinoni Voirin lithography presses made more than a century ago in Paris-- stood as an anchor of the arts district, a neighborhood to which Solomon remained energetically dedicated. In his business, as in life, Solomon never sat idly on his achievements: new ideas and possibilities never ceased to excite him, he never tired of the hard work that could bring them to realization, and he never ran out of the delight in sharing his enthusiasms (which, beyond the business realm, included horses -- in artworks and on the track -- and his beloved Bichon Frise, Picasso.) In addition to his wife Carolyn, Solomon is survived by four children from his first marriage to Josephine Kleiman Solomon, and their spouses: Debby and Bob Simon (Overland Park, KS), Alisa Solomon and Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark (New York, NY), Michael Solomon (Ann Arbor, MI) and Rena Solomon and Mark Bandy (Evanston, IL); and three grandchildren, Benjamin, Alex, and Jorie Simon. Solomon was preceded in death by his sisters, Arlene Shattil and Sally Dworkin. The funeral will take place in Chicago at 10:00 am on Thursday, August 23 at Shalom Memorial Park with a memorial in Las Vegas to follow with details to be announced. Contributions in his memory may be made to the The Hope Foundation, conducting clinical trials to treat and combat cancer ( thehopefoundation.org) and to the Epilepsy Therapy Project ( www.epilepsy.com).