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CHICAGO, Apr 6, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Herman Spertus, a Chicago businessman and Jewish museum founder who said recently that life is "good to the last drop," has died at age 105.
Spertus and his brother, Maurice, arrived in Chicago in the 1920s as penniless refugees from the Soviet Union, the Chicago Tribune reported. After some false starts, they began manufacturing cheap picture frames to take advantage of the boom in photography. Spertus once estimated that at its height Intercraft Industries sold a picture frame every 1 3/4 seconds.
The brothers founded the Spertus Museum in 1968. It was part of the College of Jewish Studies, now the Spertus Institute.
Spertus and his brother sold the business in 1992. But he remained active, continuing to do 12 pushups a day and play golf and hitting what he called the best shot of his life, 150 yards, at a golf club celebration of his 100th birthday.
His daughter, Anita Spertus, told the newspaper he "approached everything with zest and elegance."
"We were talking about life, and he said 'It's good to the last drop,' " she told the Tribune of a conversation on his 105th birthday. "He had enjoyed every ounce of it."
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
