He spent three decades shaping newspaper advertising at two of Chicago’s biggest papers. A five-year marriage to one of Hollywood’s most famous actresses is what put his name on the internet.
| Full Name | Charles Donald Fegert |
| Nickname | Chuck |
| Born | November 8, 1930 — Chicago, Illinois |
| Died | September 25, 2002 — Chicago, Illinois (Age 71) |
| Career | VP of Advertising and Marketing, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Daily News |
| Married Barbara Eden | September 3, 1977 |
| Divorced | 1983 |
| Children | Three — daughter Lisa; sons Michael and Chip |
| Grandchildren | Seven |
Table of Contents
Who Was Charles Donald Fegert?
Charles Donald Fegert was an American advertising executive who served as Vice President of Advertising and Marketing at the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Daily News during the 1960s and 1970s. Born in Chicago on November 8, 1930, he built his entire career in the city’s newspaper industry before his marriage to actress Barbara Eden brought him into public view. He died in Chicago on September 25, 2002, at age 71.
His name shows up today almost entirely through Barbara Eden’s biography. The marriage was real, difficult, and documented in her 2011 memoir Jeannie Out of the Bottle. The career that occupied the three decades before it rarely comes up.
From the South Side to the VP Suite
Fegert grew up on Chicago’s South Side in a working-class family. His father worked in the steel industry. Before college, Fegert worked briefly in the mills himself and served in the Coast Guard, before enrolling at Loyola University in Chicago.
He graduated in 1955 with a degree in business administration and joined the Chicago Sun-Times as an advertising salesman that same year.
Career Progression at a Glance
| Year | Role |
|---|---|
| 1955 | Advertising salesman, Chicago Sun-Times |
| 1969 | Advertising manager, Chicago Sun-Times |
| Early 1970s | VP of Advertising and Marketing, Sun-Times and Chicago Daily News |
| 1978 | Chicago Daily News closes; Field Enterprises consolidates staff into Sun-Times |
Both the Sun-Times and the Daily News operated under Field Enterprises, the media group controlled by the Marshall Field family. They shared a building at 401 North Wabash Avenue. Fegert’s role covered both papers simultaneously at a time when afternoon dailies across the country were bleeding circulation to television. The Chicago Daily News shut down in 1978. Fegert had been working through that pressure for years before it did.
Colleagues remembered him as someone who built real relationships with advertisers rather than just moving ad space. In Chicago’s business community, he was a regular presence at industry events and a well-regarded master of ceremonies at banquets and charity functions. His standing in the city’s advertising circles had nothing to do with who he would later meet.
The 1977 Marriage to Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden and Charles Fegert met in 1977. She had finalized her divorce from actor Michael Ansara in 1974 and, by her own account, was going through a difficult stretch personally.
“When I met Chuck Fegert in 1977 I was lonely. He was handsome, intelligent and initially loads of fun.” — Barbara Eden, Sydney Morning Herald, 2011
There was a complication Eden did not know at first. According to her memoir, Fegert was still married when their relationship began. He told her a divorce was already in progress and not worth worrying about. Her mother never accepted that, and by Eden’s account, never fully forgave him for it.
They married on September 3, 1977, a date confirmed by multiple sources including Biography.com and Wikipedia. A Getty Images photograph, taken by WWD photographer Bruce Paulson, documents them together at a Lyric Opera event in Chicago on June 9, 1977, three months before the wedding. Eden relocated from Los Angeles to a 47th-floor condominium at Chicago’s Water Tower complex on the Magnificent Mile, overlooking Lake Michigan.
The move carried a cost that stayed with her. Leaving California meant giving up her custody arrangement for her 12-year-old son Matthew, who remained in California with Michael Ansara.
“I cried a lot.” — Barbara Eden, Chicago Tribune, 1989
What Barbara Eden Said About Charles Fegert
The marriage changed in tone quickly after the wedding. In both her memoir and in interviews, Eden described what happened without softening it.
“Once we married he began to run with a crowd that drank and used cocaine.” — Barbara Eden, Sydney Morning Herald, 2011
In Jeannie Out of the Bottle, she wrote that even after marrying her, Fegert continued to “promote his playboy image, despite the fact that he now had a wife.” She attributed part of his behavior to insecurity. That reading of the situation did not change what she did next.
“He then became abusive, so I left.” — Barbara Eden, Sydney Morning Herald, 2011
The memoir describes her second husband directly as “verbally abusive” and “drug-addicted.” The couple separated in March 1982. Their divorce was finalized in 1983, confirmed by Crain’s Chicago Business, the most authoritative local record available on that detail.
His Children and the Family Who Knew Him Differently
Before Barbara Eden, Charles Fegert had been married twice. His first wife has not been confirmed in any available public record. His second wife was Trish Althaus, a model, whom he married at Kraft Chapel’s North Shore Baptist Church in Chicago. They had two sons together: Michael Fegert and Chip Fegert. That marriage ended in divorce in the 1970s.
He also had a daughter, Lisa Fegert, who became one of the most frequently cited voices on who her father actually was beyond the public version.
Lisa described him as the “most fun” father and grandfather, the person who kept every family gathering alive with impressions, songs, and humor. He had seven grandchildren. After he died, they gathered and sang the songs he had taught them.
The two accounts of Fegert, the one Eden put in her memoir and the one his family kept alive, are not contradictions. They are the same person, seen from different vantage points, at different times, under different circumstances.
Later Life and Death
After the 1983 divorce, Fegert left public attention entirely. He continued working in Chicago advertising in a consulting role, stayed in the city where he was born, and never remarried.
He died peacefully in his sleep in Chicago on September 25, 2002. He was 71 years old. His death received no press coverage.
Chuck Fegert held a senior role at two of the most significant newspapers in the Midwest during a period when the entire newspaper advertising model was being tested. He was VP before the industry he worked in had fully accepted what television was going to do to it. His name is searchable today because a five-year marriage to Barbara Eden ended badly enough to appear in a memoir. The thirty years he spent building a career in Chicago, and the twenty years of quiet life that followed the divorce, exist mostly outside the record that search results return.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Charles Donald Fegert?
Charles Donald Fegert was an American advertising executive and the second husband of actress Barbara Eden. He served as Vice President of Advertising and Marketing at the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Daily News during the 1960s and 1970s, and was born and raised in Chicago, where he lived his entire life.
Why did Barbara Eden divorce Charles Fegert?
In her 2011 memoir Jeannie Out of the Bottle and in a 2011 interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Eden said Fegert began associating with people who drank heavily and used cocaine after they married. She described his behavior as abusive. “He then became abusive, so I left,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald. Their divorce was finalized in 1983, per Crain’s Chicago Business.
When did Charles Donald Fegert die?
Charles Donald Fegert died on September 25, 2002, in Chicago, Illinois. He was 71 years old. His death was attributed to natural causes. He died peacefully in his sleep.
Did Charles Donald Fegert have children?
Yes. He had three children from his marriages before Barbara Eden: a daughter, Lisa Fegert, and two sons, Michael Fegert and Chip Fegert. He had seven grandchildren at the time of his death in 2002.
How many times was Charles Donald Fegert married?
Three times. His first wife has not been publicly identified. His second wife was Trish Althaus, a model, with whom he married at Kraft Chapel’s North Shore Baptist Church in Chicago. His third marriage was to actress Barbara Eden, from September 1977 until their divorce in 1983.
