Margie Korshak, Chicago public relations executive who worked with the stars, dies at 86
Chicago public relations executive Margie Korshak — whose PR powerhouse specialized in particular in serving the entertainment industry — died Sunday.
Published reports said Korshak was 86.
In announcing Korshak's death, Broadway In Chicago called her a "trailblazing force" in the public relations industry.
"Margie helped shape hundreds of productions and careers—including ours. She was a brilliant strategist and a champion of Broadway In Chicago," Lou Raizin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Broadway In Chicago, said in a news release.
Speaking to WBBM Newsradio in 2014, Korshak was a young housewife with two small children when she spent a few hours talking to liquor distribution tycoon and Chicago Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz.
"He looked at me and said, 'Margie, you have the greatest gift of gab.' He said, 'I think you'd be great in PR,'" Korshak told WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger in 2014.
Korshak launched her public relations career in 1967, when she joined the PR department of the American Furniture Mart — formerly headquartered at the 680 North Lake Shore Drive building in Streeterville.
In 1969, Korshak founded her own public relations firm, Margie Korshak Inc. She quickly began attracting clients.
"The biggest break I had was when Mill Run Theater opened in Niles and we had all the big stars," Korshak said in 2011. "I remember Michael Jackson when he was 5 years old. He came there. Woody Allen came there. Shecky Greene came there."
Korshak became an A-list Chicago publicist for the entertainment industry, as well as the retail and restaurant industries and corporate business. She represented every Broadway shows that came to Chicago, and worked for decades with Chicago's two largest theatrical institutions — the Nederlander and Shubert organizations.
As noted on her website, Korshak was also instrumental in the publicity for the restoration of many of the most famous downtown stage venues — the Cadillac Palace Theatre, the James M. Nederlander Theatre, the Chicago Theatre, and the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University. She also publicized the opening of the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance at Millennium Park.
Korshak also provided consuel to Sears, Bloomingdale's, Plaza Escada, The Gap, and Old Navy, as well as the most prominent malls on the Magnificent Mile, according to her website. She maintained an office for her firm for many years in the building formerly known as the John Hancock Cenrter.
"Margie's presence was larger than life — her laughter unmistakable, her instincts unparalleled. She was one of a kind and fiercely loyal," Eileen LaCario, vice president of Broadway In Chicago and longtime friend, said in a news release.
Broadway In Chicago noted that Korshak lived by the lessons she herself learned: "If you don't ask, you'll never get anything" and "Don't take no for an answer."
