Lawrence Lefferts

Lawrence Traum Lefferts, 88, advertising copywriter and financial planner, passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by his wife and their five cats, March 25, 2026, in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood.

Larry was born in Manhattan, NY across from the old Madison Square Garden. Larry’s family moved to Dundalk, MD where his father worked for Westinghouse. His mother was diagnosed with ALS, and she passed when Larry had just turned thirteen. After high school, Larry entered the pre-med program but ultimately earned his B.A. in Marketing from Johns Hopkins University and a later certificate in Broadcasting and Advertising from New York University. During the summers, he drove a Teamsters Union truck for Bond Bread (selling bread and cakes door-to-door). After graduation, Larry proudly served as a U.S. Navy Communications Officer (code man) for the U.S.S. Tidewater (a destroyer tender in the Mediterranean Sea) and briefly in Puerto Rico during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Once, when showing his brother around the boat, he bypassed the brass and gestured to his non-commissioned officers: “these are the guys who make the ship go”.

Larry was always a considerate person. Larry enjoyed a 27-year career as an advertising copywriter in New York and Chicago at Ketchum, MacLeod, and Grove and Griswold-Eshleman, Young and Rubicam, AMS, Inc, and N.W. Ayer Direct. Larry once wrote a script for Jerry Stiller and Ann Meara about Encore frozen dinners. Larry was very detail-oriented and careful, with a nose for business and investing, and embraced a second career as a certified financial planner.

In 1982, Larry met Jill at the Second Unitarian Church in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. He showed his love of show business at their wedding. He ran down the aisle to the tune of “Puttin’ on the Ritz” wearing a top hat and tails like Fred Astaire. The couple limited their joint vacations to visiting family in New York, Florida, Michigan, Minneapolis, and short vacations to Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Although his wife Jill was an avid world traveler, Larry felt he’d seen enough during his military service and occupied himself by taking care of the cat household and reading his journals on investing wisely.

Devoted husband of 42 years Celia “Jill” Althage, older brother of Peter Albert (Jane) Lefferts of Minneapolis, uncle of Marshall (Misty) and Steve (Lisa) Lefferts. Faithful companion of feline friends: Badger Picasso, Woodie Herman, Lucy Boots, Tipper Snapper, and Rusty Rascal. Son of the late Benjamin and Elsie (nee Traum) Lefferts.

A memorial service is being held Saturday, May 9, 11am, at Second Unitarian Church of Chicago, 656 W. Barry, Chicago. Private burial at Rose Hill Cemetery, Berrien Springs, Michigan.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Les Turner ALS Foundation: https://lesturnerals.org/. Arrangements by Inclusive Funeral Care, 773-318-1305 or www.InclusiveFuneralCare.com.