Jason Yuri McNinch of Chicago, IL, died unexpectedly on October 31, 2017. He was 44 years old. Jason was born on May 31, 1973, in Aspen, CO to Terance and Peg (Ruppel) McNinch. He graduated from Houghton High School in Houghton, MI in 1990, and received his AA degree in the Recording Arts from the Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts in 1992. He was employed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago as the IT Audio Video Manager. He had previously worked in IT support in the Los Angeles office of architect Frank Gehry. Jason’s friends described him as a kind soul who was giving to a fault. He was curious about everything, but his lifelong passion was music. He heard music in everyday places that the rest of us never notice – be it the rhythm of the Chicago El, or the reverberation of garbage cans in an empty performance hall. He recorded it all and most amazingly, incorporated it into his and other people music. He was a founding member of the band, Lick, and played in other Chicago area bands: The Bleak, Mesclyn, Julius Caesar and Project .44. He was also a collaborator with Martin Atkin’s Pigface. He worked as the live sound engineer at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, CA, and at The Note and Thurston’s in Chicago. His work in the recording studio was well respected and included Warzone Recorders and Invisible Records. Over the years he engineered production for Pigface, The Damage Manual, Lick, Rx, G//Z/R, Gravity Kills, Sister Machine Gun, Meg Lee Chin, Lab Report, Evil Mothers, Pounder, Die Warzau, Geezer Butler, Pink Noise Test, Mindfunk, Derek Frigo, Sister Machine Gun, KMFDM and Pounder. Jason is survived by his parents, Terance and Peg McNinch of Atlantic Mine, MI; a brother, Benjamin McNinch of Craig, MT; a grandmother, Rosemary Ruppel of Oshkosh, WI; an aunt, Barbara McNinch (Charles LaForge) of Soldotna, AK; an uncle, Patrick McNinch of Mequon, WI; an aunt, Susan Ruppel of Oshkosh WI, an uncle, Gary (Sherry) Ruppel of Oshkosh WI; and cousins, Alhasha McLean, of Seattle, WA; Tesla Lipke of Mequon, WI; and Nicholas Ruppel of Oshkosh, WI. Memorial celebrations will be held on November 19, 2017 from 5 – 8 pm at The Continental Fire Co.; 408 E. Montezuma Ave.(906-523-5428), in Houghton, MI and on November 25, 2017 from 5 – 8 pm at the Museum of Contemporary Art(312-280-2660), 220 E. Chicago Ave. in Chicago, IL. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his memory to the Chicago Center for Music Education, 1148 W. Chicago Ave.; Chicago, Il. 60642 or chimemusic.org.