Jim Tyree mourned by Chicago business community

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

Local business leaders remembered James C. Tyree as an inspiration, a visionary and a tireless advocate for Chicago and the region.

“Chicago has lost a great son and a great leader,” said Jerry Roper, president and CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, of which Tyree served as chairman for three years.

“There’s no doubt that Jim Tyree, at his young age, was going to be one of the future leaders of this city and the region,” Roper said.

Roper said Tyree, who died Wednesday at 53, was a special inspiration to small-business people, whose events he regularly attended.

“He was a guy from the South Side who knew everybody had to start somewhere, and he loved being around the small-business people,” Roper said. Tyree expressed his eagerness to attend the White Sox opening game when the two met recently, he said.

W. Rockwell “Rocky” Wirtz, chairman of the Chicago Blackhawks and a member of the investor group Tyree assembled to buy the Chicago Sun-Times, remembered him as an energetic business leader with a deep civic commitment — and as a big Blackhawks fan.

“He was someone who if he gave you his hand, you didn’t need it in writing,” Wirtz said.

Larry Richman, CEO of PrivateBancorp Inc., on whose board Tyree served, said: “Jim was the most loyal friend a person could have.

“The way he loved his family, respected his friends, led his business and battled this disease — he truly is my hero,” Richman said in a statement.

“In the years I have known Jim, he has proven himself to be a dynamic leader, an astute businessman and one of the biggest Chicago sports fans in town, particularly the White Sox,” the statement said.

“We are fortunate to have had Jim as part of our Board of Directors at PrivateBancorp and we will miss his wisdom, his humor and his passion,” Richman said.

Hedy Ratner, co-president of the Women’s Business Development Center, said in her 25 years of working with Tyree, he had “always been responsive, helpful, creative and very generous with his ideas, his spirit and his support.”

“He was a man committed to the community, the city, to business, to education and just a gift to the city,” she said.

Craig Donohue, CEO of CME Group and chairman of the Executives’ Club of Chicago, said Tyree was “a terrific man and someone we all respected and admired.”

Donohue said he was amazed at how Tyree stayed so involved in civic affairs, including the Executives’ Club, despite his health challenges.

“The fact that he stayed so involved, took such a strong interest and was so supportive speaks volumes about him as a person,” Donohue said.