Wirtz Corporation is an American

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

headquartered in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

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 ...

. It was founded in 1926 by

Arthur Wirtz Arthur Michael Wirtz (January 23, 1901 – July 21, 1983) was an American entrepreneur. He was the founder of Wirtz Corporation, a holding company that owned Chicago Stadium, the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago, the Chicago Black Hawks, and the Chic ...

as a family-owned corporation to oversee his

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

holdings. The company shortly thereafter expanded into liquor distribution. The company grew significantly throughout the 20th century by purchasing many competing liquor distributors, as well as the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

NHL team (becoming full owners in 1966), and the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...

NBA team in 1972 (Wirtz Corp. sold the Bulls to

Jerry Reinsdorf Jerry Michael Reinsdorf (born February 25, 1936) is the owner of the NBA's Chicago Bulls and MLB's Chicago White Sox. He started his professional life as a tax attorney with the Internal Revenue Service. He has been the owner of the White So ...

in 1985). Wirtz Corporation is part owner of the

United Center United Center is an indoor arena on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is home to the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). It is named ...

arena, and also owns banking and insurance interests. After founder Arthur Wirtz's death in 1983, his son,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, took control of the corporation and ran it until his death in 2007. The company's current owner and CEO is Rocky Wirtz.

Subsidiaries

The following is a partial list of subsidiaries of Wirtz Corporation * Banner Collective * Benefit Services Group, Inc. *

* First National Bank of South Miami * First Security Trust and Savings Bank * Ivanhoe Nursery *

(shared with

) * Breakthru Beverage Group (formerly known as Judge & Dolph until 2009, then Wirtz Beverage Group until the 2016 merger with Charmer Sunbelt) * Wirtz Insurance Agency * Wirtz Realty

References

{{Authority control Companies based in Chicago Holding companies established in 1922 American companies established in 1922 Holding companies of the United States