When Max Martin left suburban San Antonio for the bright lights of Chicago, he got swept up in an urban lifestyle that had him shunning his roots.
“He loved living in the city,” said Sixto Elizondo, who met Martin in their high school orchestra. “He never wanted to live in the suburbs again.”
Martin, 27, a futures trader, was killed early Sunday when he was thrown from a taxicab that made an improper left turn and was hit by a speeding sport-utility vehicle, which then fled the scene, Chicago police said.
Martin of the 0-99 block of West Delaware Place died of head injuries, according to a spokeswoman for the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
At 12:47 a.m. Sunday, police said, Martin got into a westbound cab driven by Oluwayanmife Oluwakotanmi in the 200 block of West Ontario Street in the River North area. Oluwakotanmi then drove across three lanes of traffic turning left from one-way Ontario onto Franklin Street and cut in front of a westbound black Jeep Cherokee, said police spokeswoman Laura Kubiak. The driver of the Jeep, which was traveling at a high rate of speed, did not stop, she said.
The Jeep hit the back half of the taxi’s left side, causing the cab to spin around and knock down a traffic pole on the southwest corner of Franklin and Ontario, Kubiak said.
“The passenger was ejected from the vehicle, striking his head on the sidewalk,” she said.
After the accident, the Jeep continued westbound to the Kennedy Expressway, said police spokeswoman Laura West. She said she did not know the direction it went on the Kennedy.
Police said late Sunday that they had found the Jeep and were questioning a person believed to be the driver.
The driver would likely face a charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving personal injury or death, she said.
The cabdriver, Oluwakotanmi, 24, of the 5400 block of South Cornell Avenue, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and treated for lacerations and released.
Oluwakotanmi was cited for reckless driving, making an improper left turn, failure to stay in lanes, damage to city property and failure to produce a chauffeur’s license.
His Traffic Court date is scheduled Nov. 15.
Oluwakotanmi could not be reached for comment.
Martin moved to Chicago two years ago to work at a start-up futures company, which would eventually become Hard Eight Trading, said founder Igor Chernomzav, 28, a friend of Martin’s since high school.
Martin took to the job quickly, and his spot-on sense of direction had him navigating the streets of Chicago like a lifelong resident, reinforcing his “Map Martin” nickname, Chernomzav said.
“He was in Chicago for a week and he was giving me directions,” Chernomzav said. “I had been here for almost a year.”
Martin was also remembered by friends as a gifted violinist.
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“He was an incredible, incredible musician,” Elizondo said. “Not only was he a really good reader, but he was very, very quick” at picking up a song.
Elizondo, 28, of San Antonio, said he and Martin remained friends after high school and played together in the Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra and Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra in Texas.
Martin had studied music performance at the University of Texas at Austin. He had played the violin since childhood and was gifted, said Nina Mavrinac, his violin teacher through high school.
“He was wonderful as a player. He was one of these kids who never really had to study because it was just there,” said Mavrinac, a manager for the Corpus Christi Symphony.
She said Martin would play once or twice a month with an area orchestra or at a wedding in Texas.
“He always played `The Nutcracker’ for me in Corpus. He’d always fuss, `Not that again,’ but he was teasing,” she said.
Martin was planning a trip home next month to see renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman play with the orchestra, Mavrinac said.
Friends said Martin stopped playing professionally when he moved to Chicago.
Martin enjoyed showing off Chicago to family and friends, said Elizondo, who visited last year. Martin’s mother, Diane, and two younger sisters had also come to visit. His brother, Jeremy, had yet to make the trip. Their father died several years ago.
“I was the only one who hadn’t [visited Martin],” his brother said. “I was supposed to go up there this winter.”
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