Chicago theatre critic Kris Vire passed away November 18 after a year-long battle with metastatic cancer. News of his passing was confirmed by his longtime partner, Joe Torres. Mr. Vire was 47.

A highly respected arts and culture journalist, Mr. Vire was born and raised in Fayetteville, Arkansas, studying at the University of Arkansas before moving to Chicago in 2001. Mr. Vire was a founding member of Gapers Block before joining Time Out Chicago, where he worked his way up from staff writer to the core editor over the course of a decade. In recent years, he served as the Arts and Culture Editor for Chicago Magazine, with additional freelance contributions to American Theater Magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times, Fodor’s Travel, The Guardian, PerformInk, and the New York Times.

Off the page, Mr. Vire was a regular guest on WGN Radio’s Dean Richards’ Sunday Morning, the leader of a regular segment on ABC 7 Chicago’s 11am newscast, and an on-camera personality for Fox 32 Chicago and CBS 2 Chicago, with additional radio segments on WGN and WBEZ.

Mr. Vire's battle with both colon and esophageal cancer was kept strictly private across the last year of his life. He continued publishing reflections on theatre and the culture space until a month before his death. A private, invitation-only celebration of life will be held at a later date.