{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreicmtmgsovakoodu6jaqhrabckfzsow7zbufkhyw375nfjjrlolncq",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:ha7wpngv4f2qwrk5hta4ktbb/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhjkuuzk5o72"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreice7q6722f4gichodc7szj5ob2s5bsyz3y3c7m3nochbvbxvhinjq"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
    "size": 114032
  },
  "path": "/obituaries/2026/03/20/karen-glaser-whose-underwater-photography-captured-manatees-sharks-and-more-dies-at-71",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-20T21:02:44.183Z",
  "site": "https://chicago.suntimes.com",
  "textContent": "<p></p><p></p><p></p><p>When photographer Karen Glaser was a kid, her hero was Johnny Weissmuller, the Olympic swimmer turned actor who played Tarzan on the silver screen.</p><p>She swam every chance she got and was drawn to oceans and lakes her entire life.</p><p>Ms. Glaser, a longtime photography and dark room instructor at Columbia College Chicago, was living in Logan Square when she received an underwater camera in 1983 from her husband as a birthday gift.</p><p>She quickly began capturing images of kids frolicking and swimming at at Northwest Side YMCA and other local pools and water parks.</p><p>She learned to SCUBA dive and traveled to tropical destinations where she photographed sharks, turtles, stingrays and manatees.</p><p>Her work has appeared in exhibitions at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and the Portland Art Museum, to name a few, as well as galleries around Chicago. Her photos have also appeared in public art installations, magazines and in her 2003 book \"Mysterious Manatees.\"</p><div class=\"Enhancement\" data-align-center> <div class=\"Enhancement-item\" data-crop=\"\"> <figure class=\"Figure\"><a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"image-8f0000\" name=\"image-8f0000\"></a> <picture data-crop=\"medium\"> <source type=\"image/webp\" width=\"490\" height=\"275\" data-srcset=\"https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/76abfee/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2527x1418+0+133/resize/490x275!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fde%2Fb2%2F8edd3a864514b18ae1f85b5f2b37%2Fdudek-2-3.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/926c98b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2527x1418+0+133/resize/980x550!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fde%2Fb2%2F8edd3a864514b18ae1f85b5f2b37%2Fdudek-2-3.jpg 2x\" data-lazy-load=\"true\" srcset=\"data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=\" /> <source width=\"490\" height=\"275\" data-srcset=\"https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/23fd6a4/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2527x1418+0+133/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fde%2Fb2%2F8edd3a864514b18ae1f85b5f2b37%2Fdudek-2-3.jpg\" data-lazy-load=\"true\" srcset=\"data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=\" /> <img class=\"Image\" alt=\"dudek-2 (3).jpg\" srcset=\"https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/23fd6a4/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2527x1418+0+133/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fde%2Fb2%2F8edd3a864514b18ae1f85b5f2b37%2Fdudek-2-3.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0f891bd/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2527x1418+0+133/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fde%2Fb2%2F8edd3a864514b18ae1f85b5f2b37%2Fdudek-2-3.jpg 2x\" width=\"490\" height=\"275\" data-src=\"https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/23fd6a4/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2527x1418+0+133/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fde%2Fb2%2F8edd3a864514b18ae1f85b5f2b37%2Fdudek-2-3.jpg\" data-lazy-load=\"true\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=\" > </picture> <div class=\"Figure-content\"><figcaption class=\"Figure-caption\"><p>Image of manatees captured by Karen Glaser</p></figcaption><span class=\"line\"></span><div class=\"Figure-credit\"><p>Provided</p></div></div> </figure> </div> </div><p>\"We used to go photograph sharks in Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands,\" said her husband, John Stranick. \"She was fearless in the water. I was her dive buddy. I took care of the SCUBA gear, and she had three underwater cameras hanging off her.\"</p><p>Crystal River, Fla., a well known location where manatees like to swim, was one of her favorite spots.</p><p>\"It was her career, and we didn't make much money, but we wrote things off and were able to get by and travel; she lived her life as an artist,\" he said.</p><p>Ms. Glaser died Feb. 18 in Florida, where she'd lived since 2014, from complications from Parkinson's disease. She was 71.</p><p>\"She was just full of life and could put any hat on her head, and she looked good in it,\" said her husband, adding that she loved vintage clothes.</p><p>Ms. Glaser drove a red Pontiac Firebird sports car and loved swimming with her husband and their dogs off Promontory Point on the South Side.</p><p>\"It was like she never grew up, she was always kind of a kid. She sang songs to all our pets in made up words, so when I get sad, I think of that,\" he said.</p><p>\"I remember the day she told me she'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's and she said, 'I've decided I'm going to fight this with everything I have. What do you think?' And I said 'Of course! That's exactly what we're going to do.' And she did that till the very end,\" said her friend and former Logan Square neighbor Gretchen Henninger.</p><p>\"She was pretty brave,\" said her sister, Ellen DeBenedetti. \"We both went to summer camp in Vermont, a Quaker-run wilderness camp that really advocated for women being independent and being out in nature.\"</p><p>Ms. Glaser was born June 12, 1954, and grew up in Pittsburgh. Her father, Robert Glaser, was a well known educational psychologist. Her mother, Sylvia Glaser, was a political activist.</p><p>Ms. Glaser, who attended the Kansas City Art Institute and Indiana University, was also an adjunct instructor at the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois Chicago.</p><p>\"She was very exacting and smart, and someone who took her own path,\" said Martha Williams, a former student and friend who works as visual director of Atlanta Magazine. \"She discovered her passion and found a place where she felt at home, where she could make her mark in her own little world.\"</p><p>A memorial is scheduled for May 24 at noon at The Historic Thomas Center, Gainesville, Fla.</p>",
  "title": "Karen Glaser, whose underwater photography captured manatees, sharks and more, dies at 71",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-20T21:12:37.139Z"
}