Anek “Nick” Bannapradist, a Bangkok-born businessman who led the Thai American Association of Illinois and raised money for Shriners Children’s Hospital, died Sept. 25, 2026, in Hinsdale. Elvis Presley songs played as his partner, Orachorn Nannar, and his daughters, Ann and Lisa, sat at his bedside.
He was born Nov. 1, 1942, in Bangkok, Thailand, to Kan and Bupha Bannapradist, one of seven children. As a boy he loved singing and dancing to English songs and learned languages through music. Elvis remained a lifelong favorite.
He immigrated to the United States in 1967 to continue his education and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in Long Beach, California. In 1969 he moved to Chicago.
At a party hosted by his friend Phodi Han, he met Sally, a Filipina whose attention he caught with his dancing and his red Thunderbird. They married in 1973 and settled in Glendale Heights, where they raised their daughters.
He became president of ISO Trading Center Inc., a manufacturing and OEM parts export business.
Sally died in 2000. Her death left him devastated, his family wrote, and he vowed to live fully and less seriously, with purpose and joy. Years later he found love again with Orachorn Nannar, who became his life partner and confidante.
He served as president of the Thai American Association of Illinois in 2016 and 2017 and on its board from 2004 to 2017 and 2019 to 2022. Through the association he took part in and contributed to its annual free community health screening fair from 2004 on.
He joined the Asian American Coalition of Chicago in 2004 and received its Exemplary Community Service Award in 2020. He served on the Jesse White Asian American Advisory Council Board from 2004 to 2018 and was proud to call the former secretary of state a friend. He contributed to the Thai Illinois Project for children in Thailand starting in 2011 and volunteered on medical missions to Thailand organized by the Thai Midwest Physician Association and the Thai Nurses Association of Illinois.
He became a Mason in 2002 and later joined Shriners International. In 2007 he joined the Medinah Shriners Hospitality Committee, whose Dixieland Steak Dinner and Festival of Trees raised money for Shriners Children’s Hospital.
He loved travel, golf, a good steak and Johnnie Walker Blue Label on the rocks. On the course, much to the chagrin of his fellow golfers, he searched for and collected lost golf balls. He moved through the world, his family wrote, with the calm grace of a Buddhist and the quick wit of a natural comedian, and he liked hearing that he looked younger than his age.
During a golf trip to Washington, D.C., he became severely short of breath. His family said his pulmonary fibrosis, which had been well-compensated, turned into respiratory failure after a likely virus. He fought for almost three weeks.
He is survived by his daughters, Ann (Marcel) Muñoz and Lisa Bannapradist (John Fornoles); his grandchildren, Sabine, Stella, Rocco and Nolan; his siblings, Ruchira (Dheerathep) Krasaelap and Karoon Bannapradist; his partner, Orachorn Nannar, and her daughters, Amy Nannar and Ohmy Miller; and many cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. He was preceded in death by his wife, Sally.
Visitation: Friday, Oct. 2, 2026, 4 to 6 p.m., with a Buddhist ceremony and reflections at 6 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 3, 2 to 5 p.m., with a Masonic funeral ceremony at 5 p.m. and a Buddhist ceremony and reflections at 6 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 4, 4 to 6 p.m., with a Buddhist ceremony and reflections at 6 p.m. All at Wat-Budda Damma Meditation Center, 8910 Kingery Highway (Route 83), Willowbrook, Illinois.
Funeral: Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, 2 p.m. Buddhist chant service and cremation rites at Damar-Kaminski Funeral Home & Crematorium, 7861 S. 88th Ave., Justice, Illinois.