Emory Williams, Sr. (October 26, 1911 – February 11, 2014) was an American businessman and entrepreneur. He was the chief financial officer of

Sears Roebuck Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwa ...

during the 1960s, when Sears was the largest retailer in the world. He went on to become president and chairman of the Sears Bank, a Chicago lender (later acquired by Old Kent Bank), and the president and chairman of Chicago Milwaukee Corp, a railroad and real estate company, before setting up manufacturing businesses in China in the 1990s.

Early life

Williams was born in Falco,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, and grew up in Quitman,

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

. He was a member of the graduating class of 1932 from

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

, where there is now a teaching award for academic excellence that bears his name."Emory Williams Award for Academic Excellence", ''Emory University''
During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Williams was primarily based in the

South-East Asian theatre of World War II The South-East Asian Theatre of World War II consisted of the campaigns of the Pacific War in the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Philippines, Thailand, Dutch East Indies, Indonesia, Indochina, British rule in Burma, Burma, British Raj, India ...

, working under Supreme Allied Commander for South East Asia

Lord Louis Mountbatten Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was a British statesman, Royal Navy off ...

Career

Williams served as a Director of the following

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

companies: * Armstrong Rubber Co. (acquired by Mark IV Industries) * Roper Corporation (acquired by General Electric Co.) * General Portland Cement Co. (acquired by Lafarge) * V.S.I. Corporation * Ft. Dearborn Income Securities (NYSE: FDI) * Chicago Milwaukee Corp. (acquired by Canadian National Railway) * Foote, Cone, Belding Communications, Inc. (acquired by Interpublic Cos.) * Bobbie Brooks, Inc. Williams served as the President of the Chicago Crusade of Mercy (United Way), President and Life Trustee of the

Adler Planetarium The Adler Planetarium is a public museum in Chicago, Illinois, dedicated to astronomy and astrophysics. It was founded in 1930 by local businessman Max Adler (Sears), Max Adler. Located on the northeastern tip of Northerly Island on Lake Michigan ...

, President and Life Trustee of the

Ravinia Festival Ravinia Festival is a primarily outdoor music venue in Highland Park, Illinois. It hosts a series of outdoor concerts and performances every summer from June to September in a wide variety of musical genres from classical to pop. The first orche ...

Association, President of the Chicago Community Fund, Chairman of the Illinois Health Education Commission, Chairman-Finance of the

Northwestern Memorial Hospital Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) is a nationally ranked academic medical center located on Northwestern University's Campus of Northwestern University, Chicago campus in Streeterville, Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship campus for Nort ...

, Trustee of the Charles W. Kellstadt Foundation and as a Life Trustee of Emory University. He established the Emory Williams Awards for Excellence in Teaching at

and at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Graduate School of Business.

Later life

Williams lived in

Wilmette Wilmette is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Skokie, Northfield, Glenview, and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a populatio ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and Loblolly Bay, a private club in

Hobe Sound Hobe Sound is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Martin County, Florida, Martin County, Florida, United States, located along Florida's Treasure Coast. The population was 13,163 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 cens ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

that he cofounded in 1979. The youngest of his five children, Emory Williams, Jr., has lived and worked in China since the 1990s and is a member of

Young Presidents' Organization YPO (formerly Young Presidents' Organization) is a US-based organization of chief executives with more than 36,000 members in more than 142 countries. History YPO was founded in 1950 in Rochester, New York, by manufacturer Ray Hickok, who was ...

and has also chaired the

American Chamber of Commerce The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is a business association advocacy group and is the largest lobbying group in the United States. The group was founded in April 1912 out of local chambers of commerce at the urging of President Willi ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(

AmCham China The American Chamber of Commerce in the People's Republic of China (AmCham China) is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization it has 4,000 individual members from 900 companies operating across China. The chamber provides information, networki ...

). His grandchildren include Olympic oarsman

Jamie Schroeder Jamie Twist Schroeder (born September 9, 1981, in Wilmette, Illinois) is an American rower, and a victorious Oxford Blue. Education Schroeder was educated at Choate Rosemary Hall, Connecticut '99, and Stanford University '05 from where he has ...

. He

turned 100 A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

in October 2011 and died in February 2014 at the age of 102.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Emory, Sr. 1911 births 2014 deaths Emory University alumni American chief financial officers American men centenarians People from Covington County, Alabama People from Hobe Sound, Florida People from Quitman, Mississippi

Early life

Career

Later life

See also

References