Homer J Livingston Jr

Born August 24, 1935 in River Forest, IL to Helen Henderson Livingston and Homer J. Livingston Sr., former Chairman & CEO of The First National Bank of Chicago. After graduating from Princeton University in 1957, Homer attended the U.S. Navy Officer Candidate School and served in the Navy from 1957 to 1961 with service in the Pacific. He was called back during the Berlin Crisis and trained sailors in the Great Lakes from 1962 to 1963. He joined the First National Bank of Chicago in 1962 while also attending Kent College of Law at Illinois Institute of Technology where he graduated in 1966. At First Chicago, he became, as executive vice president of corporate banking for the First National Bank of Chicago, one of its top three executives after a 16-year career there. He departed in 1979 to become a partner of Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb in charge of the Chicago office helping turn-around some of the formerly leading Midwest companies. In 1982, he moved to William Blair & Co., where he became a partner in charge of investment banking services for commercial customers. Two years later he was hired away by Algemene Bank Nederland to head ABN's subsidiary LaSalle National Bank and to become chairman of an ABN management company with operations worth $8 billion in the U.S. and Canada. He led the successful growth of ABN-LaSalle for 6 years, eventually handing over the reins in 1988 to form Livingston Financial Group, a business he formed focused on commercial bank restructuring. In 1993, he was asked to become the President and CEO of the Chicago Stock Exchange which he led for two-and-a-half years until his retirement in 1995. Beyond his full-time roles, Homer served in many board and supervisory roles, including as the Trustee of the Southern Pacific Railroad, a Director of Everen Securities, People’s Energy, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, Rexam Beverage Cans Americas, and Midwest Bank Holdings. Homer was a civic leader across many organizations serving as Chairman of the Board of Evanston-Northwestern Healthcare, Chairman of the Board of Loyola Academy, Board Director at IIT-Kent College of Law, Loyola University, and the Adler Planetarium. He served on the Executive Committee of the Chicago Community Trust and was a long-standing member of the Commercial Club. Beloved husband of Marge Livingston nee Wild; loving father of Liz (Michael) Howard and John (Dawn) Livingston; dear grandfather of Nick, Jack and Cate Howard, Homer, IV, William and Alana Livingston.