Urban Joseph Kraus

Urban J. Kraus Jr., age 87, joined the angels in heaven on July 9th, 2024. Urban was born in Aurora, Illinois and is a graduate of Southern Illinois University where he was a Linebacker . He was proud to recall those days, how he sustained many concussions as a result of wearing a leather helmet and how he played in a snowstorm with a broken leg. Urban was married to his longtime love, Carol (nee Heeg) and together they had two sons, Jeff (Erin) and Doug (Gayla). He was enormously proud of his boys and took great delight in sharing their accomplishments. Urban’s heart was broken when his wife of 50 years died of complications from surgery for pancreatic cancer. They will be interred together at the New England Congregational Church in Aurora at a later date.

There will be no local services in Columbus.

Urban worked for a brief time at State Farm Headquarters in Illinois and then took a position with Burgess Norton and ultimately became Vice President of Sales and Marketing. After his retirement, he and Carol moved to Worthington and rather than play golf all day, he bought Columbus Brick and Stone Restoration and his work can be witnessed on many of the buildings in German Village and throughout the State of Ohio.

In addition to Urban’s sons, he is survived by his second wife Maggie (Dale) and her children Nicholas, Kelley, and Kate; their children Shy’ah, Grace, Griffin, Tegan, Ivan, Otto, Felix, Logan, Jack, and Oliver; his grandchildren Sophie and Alex; and a host of friends, most importantly Barry Turner, Barney Greenbaum and Jim Schmid. We would like to thank the staff of OSU hospitals, Dr. Amy Yau, Dr. Kevin Graham, Dr. Patel, Capital City Hospice and their team led by Teresa Joseph,RN, Case Manager and an extraordinary teams of first responders from station 133/Mifflin Township Gahanna Ohio.

Urban lived a full life, and on his behalf we thank you all for your friendship over the years.