Jack Wing, 75, former boss of Chicago Corp.

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Jack Wing

Updated: October 3, 2011 12:25PM

If there was an award for visibility and worker interaction by a CEO, John “Jack” Wing not only would have won it, but it might have been named after him.

In his 16 years as the boss of the former brokerage and investment bank Chicago Corp., Mr. Wing presided over vast revenue growth. He did it in part by staying out of his office.

Mr. Wing would “walk the floor,” even after the floors multiplied and the company payroll grew to more than 1,500 workers from about 250. It was his way of keeping up with things and forging a connection with employees on their turf and not in some intimidating atmosphere of bookcases and leather chairs.

“I was amazed at how he could manage people,” said daughter Mary Ellen Flaherty. “Everybody called him by his first name. If he wanted to talk to you, he would go to you.”

“He made for a great leader and he kept the atmosphere lighthearted,” said Jane Peterson, his administrative assistant for more than 30 years.

Mr. Wing managed the sale of Chicago Corp. to ABN Amro NV, then the owner of Chicago’s LaSalle Bank, in 1997 and left a short time later. He became a professor of law and finance at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he created the school’s program for the study of financial markets.

The Evanston resident died Sunday at age 75. He had suffered from cancer and died at the Midwest Palliative and Hospice CareCenter in Skokie.

A tribute to his management style came last September. Alumni of Chicago Corp. showed up for a reunion organized by executives who were reviving the firm’s storied name for a company specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Wing agreed to be chairman emeritus of the venture.

Philip Clarke III, managing member of the new firm and a veteran of the old one, said 280 people showed up at the Tower Club. Mr. Wing, “though ill at the time, stood for more than two hours greeting everyone and laughing with them. And these weren’t just managing directors. These were runners and clerks, too,” Clarke said.

Peterson said a common sentiment at the reunion was that the old Chicago Corp. was the best job the people ever had.

Mr. Wing was a native of Elmira, N.Y., and served in the U.S. Army. He worked for the Securities and Exchange Commission, later getting a law degree from George Washington University. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Union College.

With his background in securities law, Mr. Wing insisted on integrity and always seemed to pop up when someone was tempted to cut an ethical corner, Clarke said. “We loved him for it,” he said.

“For Jack, the order of hierarchy was the client, the firm and then the banker,” Clarke said. “If you didn’t believe that, you didn’t work at Chicago Corp. very long.”

Mr. Wing’s activities in the financial markets included a longtime directorship at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. He was elected to a hall of fame of the futures trading industry in 2005.

His civic activities included chairmanship of the North Shore Country Day School and a stint on the board of the Ravinia Festival.

“He was a completely invested parent,” Flaherty said. “Somehow, he made 30 hours out of a 24-hour day.”

She recalled how he frequently took his family on business trips to London, Paris and New York.

Other survivors include his wife, Joan; son, Willy Montgomery; daughter Elisabeth Montgomery, nine grandchildren, two sisters and a brother.

A memorial service is scheduled for 4 p.m. Aug. 18 at Alice Millar Chapel at 1870 Sheridan Rd. in Evanston on the campus of Northwestern University.