Henry T. Sanders

Born on March 17, 1930, on the South Side of Chicago to Henry and Cecelia Piasecki, Henry T. Sanders died peacefully near family in Harbor Springs, Michigan, on May 12, 2025. Henry was proud to hail from Chicago, where he was raised and spent most of his working years as a tax attorney and small business owner. He was delighted to reside during his later life in Northern Michigan, where he’d first journeyed with his bride Marilyn, who now lives in Harbor Springs and survives him.

Henry’s early days in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood centered on family, school and community at the St. John of God parish, escapades in Sherman Park, and Bears and White Sox games he watched from rooftops and fences, cementing his life-long devotion to the travails of Chicago teams. After graduating from Tilden Tech High School, he left the old neighborhood for the University of Michigan/Ann Arbor, where he studied mathematics in the College and also graduated from the Law School. In the mid-1950s he was stationed with the U.S. Army in Germany, from where he toured much of Europe—a tremendous boon, he believed, that offset the less compelling features of GI duty.

Returning to the Windy City, he began his law career and met Marilyn Platz, a Lansing, MI native. They married in 1957 and moved to Manhattan, where Henry earned an advanced degree in tax law from New York University. Henry and Marilyn chose to raise their family in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, where they lived for many years, while always spending as much time as they could manage with the family at their cabin on Lake Charlevoix.

Henry loved to sail and to ski. He never minded driving up north from Chicago when he was behind the wheel of his Porsche 911S or shuttling kids for a visit to the lake. He treasured his hi-fi system and album collection, creating personalized mixes on reel-to-reel tapes. Though he might have preferred a root beer float or egg salad sandwich above all else, Henry was an avid explorer of new wines and foods; he actually used his fondue pots, eagerly shared recipes, a fine old vintage, a newfound cheese, or tips on a just-discovered restaurant. He resisted all things parochial, seeking out the unexplored corners. He encouraged younger persons, especially his children, to do the same, venturing with them to Chicago’s parks, museums, theaters, and concert halls, along with Bears games. Though his long life brought challenges as well as opportunities, he remarked often, particularly in his later years in Harbor Springs, on his good fortune.

Henry and Marilyn were married for more than 67 years. He is survived by their four children: Lynn (Kant Lin), Bryce (Rebecca Calabrese), Gail (Robert Pless) and Lisa (Scott Hensley); nine grandchildren and a great grandchild.

The Sanders family is profoundly grateful for the unmatched dedication of the skilled, kind, and good-humored staff at the Emmet County Medical Facility (Bay Bluffs), who generously indulged Henry’s love of song, food, and drink, greatly improving the quality of his last decade, and to Hospice of Michigan. A private memorial service will be held at a later date.

Please share your memories and personal messages with the family on his guestbook below.