John Nocita, former Sun-Times art director, dies at 83

John Nocita was an integral part of the Chicago Sun-Times for decades.

He headed up the paper's art department in the 1980s.

"It was an era when you could walk on a CTA train or bus and see half the riders reading a Sun-Times," said Richard Cahan, former picture editor for the Sun-Times, who would send over photos to the folks in Mr. Nocita's department to get touched up with an airbrush and have the color properly toned.

"John took his job very seriously," said Cahan.

Under pressure to get his team of more than 12 people to work on photos, produce maps, charts and sketches, Mr. Nocita's response to requests from various departments at the paper was often, initially at least, no, earning him the nickname Dr. No.

"It was funny, because he'd say no, but later he always ended up getting the jobs done," Cahan said.

Mr. Nocita died Dec. 30 after battling Alzheimer's disease. He was 83.

Mr. Nocita got his break in journalism when the Chicago Daily News hired him in 1968. When that paper closed in 1978, Mr. Nocita, like many on the paper's staff, went to work at the Chicago Sun-Times. The two papers had the same owner and were housed in the same building along the Chicago River, which was demolished in 2004 to make way for Chicago's Trump International Hotel & Tower.

"My dad lived to go to work," said his son John Nocita Jr. "There were a lot of characters there, and it was its own little world there in that old building on the river."

Another part of work that Mr. Nocita loved was playing for the newspaper softball teams. Mr. Nocita was a softball mainstay beginning in 1970 when his friend, real estate editor and columnist, Don DeBat, posted a note on the bulletin board at work looking to field a Daily News softball team. Mr. Nocita was in.

So, too, was legendary columnist Mike Royko, who tapped DeBat on the shoulder and said, "Lad, I understand you're starting a softball team. Here's how we'll do it.'' Royko, leaning into his outsize status, appointed himself manager, setting the lineup, and anointed DeBat captain, lugging the bats and balls around and making sure enough players showed up to games. In a 1973 media league playoff game in Lincoln Park, Royko was on the mound and Mr. Nocita was catcher during a crucial throw out play at home plate.

"Nocita caught the ball, blocked the plate, tagged the runner out and received an elbow to the face,” DeBat recalled. “Nose broken, Nocita laid on the ground smiling while clutching the softball to his chest.”

Mr. Nocita also pitched.

The ink-stained team was adroit at celebrating. Thanks to primary sponsor Sam ''Billy Goat'' Sianis, they never went thirsty, win or lose.

"We always started at the Billy Goat, owned by Sianis. Where we ended up was anybody's guess. Rush Street. Comedy clubs. Piano bars. Discos. Four o'clock bars. With Royko, we could get in anywhere, even in polyester softball uniforms. Sometimes we never even left the Goat — until the breakfast crowd started coming in," wrote former Sun-Times sportswriter Herb Gould in a 2008 story celebrating the teams' induction into the Chicago 16-inch Softball Hall of Fame.

Mr. Nocita was born Nov. 18, 1942, to Frank and Angela Nocita — a former Sun-Times delivery driver and a homemaker.

He attended DePaul Academy and a photo retouching school in Rochester, New York, before marrying Peggy Nocita, his high school sweetheart, who died in 2015.

Mr. Nocita later worked as advertising art director for the Sun-Times and retired from the paper in 2008.

He lived in Jefferson Park for years before retiring and moving to Norwood Park.

"I remember when I was a kid I'd go to work with my dad and go up down the escalators and go to the basement and visit the guys printing the papers on those big machines. It was fun," said his son.

In addition to his son John, Mr. Nocita is survived by his son Michael, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Services have been held.