Dionicio Castillo Ontiveros

Dionicio Castillo Ontiveros, a photographer and longtime resident of Chicago, passed away on Tuesday, December 21, 2021, at the age of 82. He is survived by his son James Jorge Ontiveros, his daughter Elena Ruth Ontiveros, and his sister Consuelo Balais.

Born in Houston, Texas, on February 11, 1939, to Jovita Castillo (d. 1984) and Bonifacio Ontiveros (d. 1945), Dionicio liked to refer to himself as a TexMex. Two years after the death of his father, his mother moved the family to Toledo, Ohio, where he attended Perrysburg High School and worked at Woolworths as a stock boy to help his single mother care for him and his 8 siblings: Isabel, Minerva, Rodolfo, Pedro, Maria, Alejandra, Naaman, and Consuelo.

In 1961, Dionicio moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he pursued a career in art. After working at a photo lab, photography studio, small agency, and offset printer, he started his own photography business in 1970: Don Ontiveros Fotografia. For 50 years, he specialized in advertising photography, attracting a wide-range of clients, including Sears, Woolworths, NBC News, 9Lives/Morris the Cat, Leo Burnett, Foote Cone & Belding, Sieber & Mcintyre, and more. His career reached a pinnacle when his portrait of Mexican artist Carlos Ortiz became part of an exhibit at the Smithsonian. In his free time, Dionicio loved to explore and shoot nature scenes, abandoned buildings, famous landmarks, and his children (often his most reluctant models). In later years, he took up painting and enjoyed honoring Native Americans as his subjects.

Dionicio was a devoted, lifelong Christian—a faith that was instilled by his mother and strengthened when he was 17 years old. After listening to a “Back to the Bible” broadcast on the radio, he paused for a moment and exited the back door of the car garage, feeling moved to confess to Jesus and accept him as his Lord and Savior. In Chicago, Dionicio found a community of faith at Moody Memorial Church, where he made and maintained many lifelong friendships. In addition to sharing and celebrating their love of the Lord, Dionicio and these friends would spend holidays, enjoy meals, and bring their children together.

Dionicio was also known for his sense of humor. His daughter liked to say that he makes jokes only he laughs at (“I see said the blind man to the deaf man”), but more often than not, he earned a “That was a good one” from his son and got a chuckle out of other people too. It was this wit that kept his spirits up, as well as those around him, until the very end.

A funeral is scheduled for Thursday, December 30, at Drake and Son Funeral Home in Chicago, where his family, friends, and all who miss him will honor and celebrate his life. Visitation starts at 11:30 am CST and the service at 1:30 pm, followed by a 3:00 pm burial at Rosehill Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, his family requests that donations be made in Dionicio’s name to Asociacion Mexicana de Ayuda a Ninos con Cancer de San Luis Potosi, A.C.