Lee Miglin

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Lee Miglin
Lee Miglin.jpg
Born
Lee Albert Miglin[1]

(1924-07-12)July 12, 1924
Westville, Illinois, U.S.
DiedMay 4, 1997(1997-05-04) (aged 72)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Cause of deathMultiple stab wounds
NationalityAmerican
OccupationReal estate developer, business tycoon, philanthropist
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 1959)​
Children2

Lee Albert Miglin (July 12, 1924 – May 4, 1997) was an American business tycoon and philanthropist. After starting his career as a door-to-door salesman and then broker, Miglin became a successful real estate developer. He was murdered in his home in May 1997 by Andrew Cunanan, a spree killer.

Early life and education[]

Miglin was one of seven children born to a Roman Catholic family of Lithuanian descent. His father was a Czech immigrant who worked as a Central Illinois coal miner, and also owned a tavern, ice cream parlor, and soda distributorship.[2][3] Miglin was born in Westville, Illinois.[4]

Miglin trained as an air cadet during World War II, before attending the University of Illinois.[4]

Early career[]

Miglin began his career selling silverware door-to-door and pancake batter out of the trunk of his car.[3] After this, he sold frozen cheesecakes, and subsequent to that sold TV dinners.[4] He quit his salesman job to spend a six month trip across Europe.[4] After this, he decided to make an effort to go into real estate to make substantial money.[4]

Real estate career[]

In 1956, at the age of 31, he began his real estate career. In the early 1960s, he took a job as a broker with Chicago real estate magnate Arthur Rubloff.[3][4] At Arthur Rubloff & Co., Miglin would first get involved with warehouse construction, later moving into office development.[5] One of the projects he was involved in was the development of the first two of the three towers at the President's Plaza office complex near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport[5] (he would later develop the third tower in 1985 with his firm Miglin-Beitler).[6] Miglin was regarded as an early developer of the business park developments.[7] He worked at the firm for 25 years.[4]

Miglin formed a successful real estate development partnership with , who had also worked at Rubloff & Co, creating the firm Miglin-Beitler Developments in 1982.[5][6] Among the projects developed by the firm were Madison Plaza,[6] 181 West Madison Street,[5][8] Oakbrook Terrace Tower (the tallest building in Illinois outside of Chicago)[6][9][10] The firm also managed properties.[6]

In 1988, Miglin-Beitler Developments unveiled plans to construct a 1,999 foot 125-floor skyscraper in Chicago to be called the Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle. However, the building was never built, with plans faltering during a 1990 downturn of Chicago's downtown office market.[5][11][12] Miglin-Beitler had held hopes of resurrecting the project, but these hopes would be dashed by Miglin's murder.[12]

After the firm began shifting its focus away from development and towards property management in the 1990s, Miglin gradually withdrew from the daily operations, but still remained involved in the company.[5]

Personal life[]

In 1959, Miglin married 20-year-old Marilyn Klecka, who is of Czech descent and also Roman Catholic.[3] Klecka, a successful entrepreneur known as the Queen of Makeovers, established a prominent perfume and cosmetics company and is a celebrity[13] on the Home Shopping Network.[2] They had two children together, Marlena (born 1968) and Duke Miglin (born 1971), the latter of which became an actor.[3]

Murder[]

Miglin was murdered on May 4, 1997, by the spree killer Andrew Cunanan. Miglin's body was found in the garage of his home in Chicago's Gold Coast Historic District. He had been bound at the wrists, and his head was bound with tape, with only a breathing space under his nostrils. He had been tortured with a saw and a screwdriver, his ribs had been broken, he had been beaten and stabbed, and his throat had been slashed with a gardener's bow saw.[14][15][16]

Cunanan was already wanted in Minneapolis for murdering his friend Jeffrey Trail, 28, and ex-lover David Madson, 33, a few days earlier.[13]

In popular culture[]

The second season of the anthology television series American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace, recounted the Cunanan spree. It included appearances by Miglin, portrayed by Mike Farrell.[17] This portrayal was based on Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History by Maureen Orth, who speculated that Miglin may have been a closeted bisexual man in a secret relationship with Cunanan.

References[]

  1. ^ Westville Honors Alumni With Wall of Fame
  2. ^ a b McCormick, John (May 18, 1997). "A Lethal Road Trip". Newsweek. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e Oarth, Maureen (December 5, 2017). Vulgar Favors: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. Bantam. ISBN 9780525482574.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g James, Frank (January 18, 1990). "Sky kings". Newspapers.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Kerch, Steve (May 11, 1997). "An Unbuilt Tower Is A Fine Legacy For Lee Miglin". Chicago Tribune.
  6. ^ a b c d e Hayes, Charles (22 March 1987). "MIGLIN-BEITLER POLISHES ITS NEWEST GEM: OAKBROOK TERRACE TOWER". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  7. ^ Johnson, Dirk (6 May 1997). "Wealthy Chicago Developer Victim of a Grisly, Puzzling Slaying". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  8. ^ Tribune, Chicago; Johnson, C. R. (22 May 1988). "NEW OFFICE BUILDING SET AT 181 W. MADISON". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  9. ^ Ibata, David (22 July 1985). "TOWERING PLANS BY MIGLIN-BEITLER". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  10. ^ Tribune, Chicago (25 June 2006). "Part 5: 10 things you might not know about the western suburbs". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  11. ^ "Imagining the Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle as Willis' Big Brother". Curbed Chicago. 16 May 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  12. ^ a b Ori, Ryan (19 March 2018). "Five decades after Chicago's greatest skyscraper boom, city aims high again". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  13. ^ a b Orth, Maureen (September 1997). "The Killer's Trail". Vanity Fair. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  14. ^ Chuck Goudie; Barb Markoff (May 2, 2017). "20 years after Cunanan murders, Lee Miglin's son talks". ABC7. Chicago. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  15. ^ Martin, Andrew; Ferkenhoff, Eric (May 6, 1997). "The Mysterious Death Of Lee Miglin - Gold Coast Area Shocked By Slaying". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  16. ^ Kastor, Elizabeth; Weeks, Linton (July 17, 1997). "Five Lives Cut Short". Washington Post.
  17. ^ "Mike Farrell as Lee Miglin for American Crime Story: Versace on FX". FX Networks. Archived from the original on 2019-03-21. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
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