Obit: Robert Pritzker, a patriarch of one of the world's richest families

By Eric Johnson

CHICAGO Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:58pm EDT
(Reuters) - Chicago businessman and founder of a conglomerate that was purchased by Warren Buffett, has died, his assistant said on Friday.

He was 85.

The cause of death was Parkinson's disease, said Pritzker's assistant, Becky Spooner.

Together with his brother Jay, who founded the Hyatt hotel chain, Robert Pritzker founded the Marmon Group, an industrial conglomerate that made everything from bolts and screws to water treatment products and railroad cars.

The company was purchased by billionaire investor Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in 2008.

"Throughout his career, Mr. Pritzker strongly believed that well-educated engineering minds would long be essential to the ability of the United States to compete in world markets," said Louhon Tucker, an executive at Colson Associates, in a statement.

The Pritzker family is one of the world's richest. The 11 members of the family on the 2011 Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans -- which did not include Robert -- had a combined worth of $17.1 billion, according to the magazine.

Pritzker was born in Chicago in 1926. He graduated with a degree in industrial engineering in 1946 from Illinois Institute of Technology, the benefactor of a $60 million charitable contribution from Pritzker in 1996, the school said in a statement.

"Bob was an extraordinary man and one of IIT's most ardent and benevolent supporters. His name was synonymous with IIT," said President John L. Anderson. "The university is deeply saddened by the loss of one of its great leaders."

Pritzker retired from Chicago-based Marmon in 2002. He then created Colson Associates, a consortium of manufacturing and service companies, which he ran until just before his death.

Pritzker also served on many civic and cultural boards, such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lincoln Park Zoological Society.

He is survived by his wife Mayari and five children.

A study in contrast ...Market Update

The chase by Marty Cej:

Nothing brings events into stark relief quite so well as well-timed juxtaposition. Yesterday, an agreement to solve the European sovereign debt crisis that was long on promise but short on details sparked a global equity market rally, helping to push the S&P 500 towards its best month since Oct. 1974. This morning, profit warnings and job cuts from consumer-sensitive companies such as Whirlpool, Electrolux and Newell Rubbermaid stand out “like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear.”

It’s this whiplash-inducing contrast that we’ll need to examine today because it is a dichotomy that investors will have to reconcile and act upon in the days and weeks to come.
Specifically, we need to take a look at Whirlpool’s remarkable earnings statement this morning and apply the company’s anecdotal observations and actions to the North American economy and consumer. Whirlpool, the world’s biggest household appliance maker, said it will cut 5,000 jobs and slash its earnings expectations due to “recessionary demand levels in developed countries, a slowdown in emerging markets and high levels of inflation in material costs.” Electrolux, the second-biggest appliance maker, said it will deepen cost cuts as sales volumes in mature markets fall to their lowest level in more than a decade.

The CEO of Newell Rubbermaid said the company will cut 500 jobs as part of a program labeled “Project Renewal” (you paid a consultant for that??) because of a “really tough macro environment.” I will add that within yesterday’s robust report on U.S. GDP was a line on disposable income, which contracted in the third quarter. According to National Bank Financial, that means “that Americans were drawing from their savings to finance spending. That’s an area of vulnerability for subsequent quarters for consumers, particularly if the stagnant labour market doesn’t pick up steam soon.” Next Friday sees the release of U.S. and Canadian employment data.

Turning back to the markets, we’ll need to take a careful look at the rally by the S&P 500 over the past month. At the open of trading, the U.S. benchmark is up 14.12 percent for the month, the best month for the measure since a 16.3 percent gain in October 1974. Who were the leaders? The laggards? Is the outlook for economic growth and earnings gains healthy enough to justify the rally? Did leadership shift over the course of the month?

Bill Strazullo, Chief Markets Strategist at Bell Curve Trading in Boston will help us identify the trends and anomalies in the world’s biggest stock market. He joins us for a half hour of analysis starting at 9 am.

We will also feature an interview today with Gord Nixon, CEO of Royal Bank of Canada. Gord sits down with Howard Green at 12:30 to discuss the euro-zone bailout package, the global economy, the Canadian banking industry and his bank in particular.

Our conversation with Don Lindsay, CEO of Teck Resources, follows at 1:00. Stephen Snyder, CEO of TransAlta, sits down with Michael Hainsworth on the Close at 4:40.
How’s that for a line-up? And yesterday we spoke with the CEOs of Methanex, Barrick Gold, Goldcorp., Potash Corp. and Cogeco, and one former Prime Minister. Let’s face it, the only thing that comes close to rivaling the BNN Greenroom happened in at Thanksgiving 1976 at San Francisco’s Winterland when The Band invited a few friends to jam with them at their final show. Or just about any night on the Dick Cavett Show in the mid-1970s.

Sterling Partners have ridden in on a fine Arab charger to rescue Mosaid from the clutches of Wi-Lan. Sterling has agreed to buy Mosaid for $46 a share, topping Wi-Lan’s raised-but-still-hostile bid of $42 a share. Calls are out.

In earnings, we are watching numbers from Merck, Chevron, MacDonald Dettwiler, Weyerhauser, Newmont, Transalta, Postmedia and Norbord.