John Anthony Auses

John Anthony (“Jack”) Auses, 51, of Chicago, IL, died on July 1, 2026 in Chicago, IL. He was born in 1975 in Pittsburgh, PA, to Christine and the late John Paul Auses and had been a resident of the Logan Square neighborhood since 2005.

Jack earned a bachelor’s degree in the History of Art and Architecture from University of Pittsburgh and taught himself how to code HTML and CSS in the early days of the World Wide Web by reading the books and blogs of Dave Siegel, Eric Meyer, and Jeffrey Zeldman, all of which led him to an IT career in the arts and higher education. He spent the last 21+ years working as a lead front-end web developer and senior web accessibility specialist at The University of Chicago, with a particular interest in web performance, coding standards, and reducing technical friction for users. In 2013, he and his ITS Web Services colleagues won the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences Webby and People’s Voice Awards in the School/University category for a major redesign of UChicago’s main website.

His interests—before cancer left him physically disabled and stole his executive function—included contemporary art, photography, collecting and reading books about mid-century modern furniture and design, taking road trip trips to national parks with his wife, walking on The 606 trail near his home, hiking the many Chicago area forest preserves, and playing guitar…poorly. He was also an avid independent music fan, and, after joining the Columbia House Music Club in middle school, started amassing a modest collection of CDs, cassettes, and vinyl records with a focus on shoegaze and dream pop records released by the UK label 4AD and attending punk, post-rock, metal, and indie rock shows throughout Chicagoland. #ThankYouSteveAlbini. Thalia Hall, Metro, and Sleeping Village were three of his favorite venues. His favorite band was Low. #MimiForever

He is survived by his wife of 14 years, Cherie L. Lusky; mother, Christine Auses, of Allegheny Township, PA; sister, Julia C. (Timothy) Wittkopp, of Rochester Hills, MI; brother, Kevin F. (Erin) Auses, of Dormont, PA; and eight nieces and nephews: Jacob, Emma, Riley, and Noah Wittkopp; and Claire, Julien, Phoebe, and Xavier Auses; two cats: Finn and Chirp; a dog: Goose; and many friends whom he loved deeply.

His family would like to thank the teams at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital Brain and Spine Institute, specifically neuro-ongologist Dr. Mary Moellering and neurosurgeon Dr. Joshua Billingsley; the Creticos Cancer Center at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, specifically radiation oncologist Dr. Ryan Rhome, hematology oncologist Dr. Mylene Remo, and the valet staff; neuro-oncologist Dr. Karan Dixit at the Northwestern Medicine Lou and Jean Malnati Brain Tumor Institute; North Shore Compassionate Care; and JourneyCare Home Health & Hospice for their empathetic care and professionalism.

Jack also wanted to acknowledge the immense sacrifices Cherie made, significantly scaling back her private practice work hours, and taking on the complex tasks of managing all the household responsibilities and calendar of doctor appointments, and caring for him at home—without complaint—as his health declined. And the friends, neighbors, family, current and former work colleagues who visited and checked in regularly, provided supplemental caregiving, cooked meals, gifted DoorDash credits, made house calls for haircuts, brought food, and volunteered their time to drive to doctor appointments or run errands. Specifically: Fred and Brie Aul, Cornelia Bailey, Emily Baker, J. Lynn Barnett, Craig Barron, Scott Bassett, Suzi Coates, Brian Cook, Diane DePaolis, Annette Ferrara, Judith Fetcko, Chris Foley, Jill Freeman, Ellen Greene, Don Guss, Jeff Jarzynka, Thalia Kapica, Jen and Mike Kegg, Rebecca Klein, Todd Koering, Pat Kogos, Tom Kompare, Michael Lofstead, Ed and Ruth Lusky, Heidi and Stan Mamula, André Marques, Jen Mergel, Rocco Palladino, Jeff Parfitt, Candice Pineda, Sarah Schmidt, Avi Schwab, Stacey Shintani, Scott Shumaker, Levi Stahl, and so many more.

Memorial service/celebration of life details will be announced at a later date. Per his wishes, Jack’s remains will be scattered in accordance with “Leave no Trace” principles in Empire, MI at a site on the wilderness portion of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Empire Bluff Trail overlooking Lake Michigan (44°47'54.5" N, 86°04'24.4" W). Please visit when you’re Up North!

Instead of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Advocate Brain & Spine Institute, Northwestern Medicine Malnati Brain Tumor Institute, the American Brain Tumor Association, the American Cancer Society, or other institutions funding research into a cure and new therapies for glioblastoma.