Emory Williams, Sr. (October 26, 1911 – February 11, 2014) was an American businessman and entrepreneur. He was the chief financial officer of Sears Roebuck during the 1960s, when Sears was the largest retailer in the world. He went on to become president and chairman of the Sears Bank, a Chicago lender (later acquired by Old Kent Bank), and the president and chairman of Chicago Milwaukee Corp, a railroad and real estate company, before setting up manufacturing businesses in China in the 1990s.

Career

Williams served as a Director of the following

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

companies: * Armstrong Rubber Co. (acquired by Mark IV Industries) * Roper Corporation (acquired by General Electric Co.) * General Portland Cement Co. (acquired by Lafarge) * V.S.I. Corporation * Ft. Dearborn Income Securities (NYSE: FDI) * Chicago Milwaukee Corp. (acquired by Canadian National Railway) * Foote, Cone, Belding Communications, Inc. (acquired by Interpublic Cos.) * Bobbie Brooks, Inc. Williams served as the President of the Chicago Crusade of Mercy (United Way), President and Life Trustee of the

Adler Planetarium The Adler Planetarium is a public museum in Chicago, Illinois, dedicated to astronomy and astrophysics. It was founded in 1930 by local businessman Max Adler. Located on the northeastern tip of Northerly Island on Lake Michigan in the city, th ...

, President and Life Trustee of the

Ravinia Festival Ravinia Festival is an outdoor music venue in Highland Park, Illinois. It hosts a series of outdoor concerts and performances every summer from June to September. The first orchestra to perform at Ravinia Festival was the New York Philharmonic unde ...

Association, President of the Chicago Community Fund, Chairman of the Illinois Health Education Commission, Chairman-Finance of the

Northwestern Memorial Hospital Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) is a nationally ranked academic medical center located on Northwestern University’s Chicago campus in Streeterville, Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship campus for Northwestern Medicine and the primary ...

, Trustee of the Charles W. Kellstadt Foundation and as a Life Trustee of Emory University. He established the Emory Williams Awards for Excellence in Teaching at

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

and at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

Graduate School of Business.

Personal

Williams was born in Falco,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

, and grew up in Quitman,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. He was a member of the graduating class of 1932 from

, where there is now a teaching award for academic excellence that bears his name."Emory Williams Award for Academic Excellence", ''Emory University''
During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Williams was primarily based in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II, working under Supreme Allied Commander for South East Asia

Lord Louis Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of Germa ...

. Williams lived in

Wilmette Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a population of 27,087 at the 2010 census. The ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

and Loblolly Bay, a private club in

Hobe Sound Hobe Sound is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Martin County, Florida, United States, located along Florida's Treasure Coast. The population was 13,163 at the 2020 census, up from 11,521 in 2010. Geography Hobe Sound ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

that he cofounded in 1979. The youngest of his five children, Emory Williams, Jr., has lived and worked in China since the 1990s and is a member of

Young Presidents' Organization YPO (formerly Young Presidents' Organization) is an American-based worldwide leadership community of chief executives with approximately 29,000 members in more than 130 countries, according to the organization's 2019 YPO international fact sheet. ...

and has also chaired the

American Chamber of Commerce The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is the largest lobbying group in the United States, representing over three million businesses and organizations. The group was founded in April 1912 out of local chambers of commerce at the urgin ...

in China (

AmCham China The American Chamber of Commerce in the People's Republic of China (AmCham China) is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization whose membership comprises 4,000 individuals from 900 companies operating across China. The chamber's mission is to ...

). His grandchildren include Olympic oarsman

Jamie Schroeder Jamie Twist Schroeder (born September 9, 1981, in Wilmette, Illinois) is an American rower, and a victorious Oxford Blue. Education Schroeder was educated at Choate Rosemary Hall, Connecticut '99, and Stanford University '05 from where she has ...

. He turned 100 in October 2011 and died in February 2014 at the age of 102.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Emory, Sr. 1911 births 2014 deaths Emory University alumni American centenarians American chief financial officers Men centenarians People from Covington County, Alabama People from Hobe Sound, Florida People from Quitman, Mississippi

Career

Personal

See also

References