John Baird is being remembered in many ways due to his decades as a real estate developer and architecture preservationist. But also for his work to fight housing discrimination in Chicago.
Pinpointing one thing that John Baird will be remembered for is difficult. He lead the prominent Baird & Warner real estate company for three decades. He was also a champion in ending racial discrimination in home sales in the 1960s.
OSMOND: What he did for fair housing, making sure that there was no segregation at all, people could buy houses in whatever neighborhood they chose, which was really radical at the time.
That’s Lynn Osmond, CEO of the Chicago Architecture Foundation. The group honored Baird just last month for his work to save many buildings from demolition.
OSMOND: The buildings that he saved in neighborhoods is something that we will always treasure.
Baird died over the weekend. He was 98.