CHICAGO — The 95-year-long life of Michael Butler, which ended on Nov. 7 at a nursing home in California was the stuff of legend and adjectives.
Among those that attached to him over the decades were industrialist, athlete, millionaire hippie, politician and playboy. The one most likely to stick for keeps is that of producer, for it was he who helped mold and nurture “Hair” into one of the most successful and era-defining musicals of the 20th century.
He was born in Chicago on Nov. 26, 1926, the son of prominent socialites Paul Butler and Marjorie von Stresenreuter Childress. His father was the heir to a paper company fortune and an active real estate developer and polo enthusiast. Michael and his siblings grew up in rural opulence on a farm called Natoma in what would later become Oak Brook. He often talked dreamily of a childhood spent horse jumping, fox hunting and playing polo. “It was Camelot,” he would say.
