Kenneth E. Belford

Kenneth E. Belford was born Sept. 7, 1924, in Oak Park, Illinois. He grew up in the Chicago area and graduated from Foreman High School on Chicago's Northwest Side. After serving as a naval officer during World War II, he enrolled in Wheaton College, where he met his future wife, Ellen. They married in 1948. Mr. Belford earned an architectural degree from the University of Illinois and then joined Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as an architect for most of his professional career, he also worked for the University of Illinois in Chicago. He had been a resident of the Wheaton area since 1952. Mr. Belford left Skidmore in the late 1960s to join a construction consulting firm, McKee Berger Mansueto. He left that firm in the early 1970s to join UIC as its assistant vice president of capital programs. He retired in the late 1980s. He was preceded in death by his wife, Ellen, of 63 years. Kenneth Belford died February 28, 2011 at age 86.