Goldberg architect attacked in home invasion

6-Jul-10 – A retired architect who worked on the design of Marina City is back from the hospital, after police say he was beaten with a baseball bat in a home invasion early Tuesday morning.

Louis Rocah, currently an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, woke around 4:30 a.m. when an intruder tripped an alarm at Rocah’s two-story gray stone home on Chicago’s north side.

Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, Rocah reset the alarm but minutes later a man in a mask burst into his bedroom, swinging a baseball bat. As Rocah reached for the telephone, the intruder hit the 83-year-old man in the head with the bat.

The intruder then took Rocah’s wallet and left. Rocah went to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center and was released later that morning. His 80-year-old wife was not hurt.

Police described the intruder as about six feet tall, slim build, wearing dark clothing, gloves, and a black “skeleton” mask.

Rocah’s work includes Marina City. He worked for architect Bertrand Goldberg on the final design phase and helped supervise its construction. In 1962, he started his own architectural office and he has taught at UIC since 1966.

According to a biography of Rocah on the UIC website, he studied for two years with noted architect Mies van der Rohe.