John Hughes is being remembered for his role in putting Chicago on the filmmaking map.

The movie director, writer and producer died yesterday of a heart attack. He filmed many of his popular movies in the suburbs north of Chicago where he grew up.

Chicago Film Office director Richard Moskal worked with Hughes on his earliest blockbuster Pretty in Pink.

MOSKAL: Chicago was really just starting to get its feet wet as a destination for Hollywood. But John changed that notion of Chicago being just a destination to a place where not only were films being made in Chicago but they were being made by Chicagoans. It’s tough to think of what Chicago’s filmmaking community would be now if it were not for John Hughes.

Moskal says Hughes’ insistence on filming in Chicago helped create a vibrant local film industry. Hughes worked on films such as Home Alone, The Breakfast Club, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He was 59 years old.

Blog: Local media’s coverage of John Hughes’ death.