Personal Life
Kurtis and his longtime partner, Donna La Pietra, are very active on the Chicago social circuit, supporting numerous non-profit organizations. He has also done several public service announcements, including RFB&D (Recording For The Blind and Dyslexic). Kurtis's wife, Helen (who was his high school sweetheart and whom he married in 1963), died of cancer in June 1977. They had two children, Mary Kristin (born December 1965) and Scott Erik (born October 1970). Scott Kurtis, 38, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia since he was in his mid-teens, was found dead July 20, 2009, on his father's Kansas cattle ranch, where he had lived. His body was discovered by his sister, who lives near the ranch. Scott Kurtis suffered from heart and thyroid ailments as a result of weight-gain resulting from medication to treat his schizophrenia.
Kurtis's sister, Jean Schodorf, is a Republican Kansas State Senator. During her 2010 run for the United States House of Representatives, Kurtis narrated a campaign commercial for her.
Bill is a cousin to Frank Kurtis.
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