Arthur E. Andersen III, 69, powerhouse Chicago accounting firm founded by his grandfather
Shrike!
August 11, 2006
BY TOM JOHNSTON Pioneer Press
http://www.suntimes.com/output/obituaries/cst-nws-xandersen11.html
He always wanted to be called Art, not Arthur E. Andersen III, a name
most people would quickly relate to the powerhouse Chicago accounting
firm his grandfather founded in 1913.
Humility, say those who knew Mr. Andersen well, was just one of many
fine attributes he possessed and practiced on a daily basis.
Mr. Andersen died July 31 in his Barrington home at the age of 69.
Services were last week. He was buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in
Skokie.
"He would be irritated when someone called him Arthur," said Daniel
O'Brien, a longtime friend. "He didn't want to use his name as a
door-opener."
Though he served as Arthur Andersen & Co.'s treasurer for many years
before he retired in 1992, Mr. Andersen chose to cut his own teeth in
the investment business long before joining the family ranks.
"He wanted to make his own mark," said Kristen Andersen, Mr.
Andersen's firstborn child. "He used to tell me, 'At the end of the
day, knowing you did it on your own is everything and not resting on
the laurels of your name or your upbringing.' That was very important
to him. Integrity was everything to him."
Mr. Andersen was born in Evanston in 1936 to Arthur E. Andersen II and
Marion Condy Andersen.
As a young man, Mr. Andersen lived in Fort Myers, Fla., where, as a
teenager, he worked in the shrimp business.
Mr. Andersen attended St. John's Military Academy in Milwaukee,
Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pa., and Northwestern University.
But friends and family say his education never ended, calling him a
"learning machine."
"If he wanted to study something, he was relentless," Kristen said.
"He learned it from all angles. It was amazing."
Mr. Andersen started his professional career as vice president of
operations for his father's company, American Farm Equipment, in 1958
and worked there until 1962, when the business was sold. He had
married Betsey Wine, with whom he had Kristen Andersen, Arthur
Andersen IV and Karen A. Porter.
In 1967, he joined EF Hutton & Co., where he worked as vice president
of operations for about seven years. From roughly 1974 to 1977, Mr.
Andersen ran his own brokerage, RM Rice & Co. In 1978, he married Joan
Raae.
It wasn't until 1977 that he joined his grandfather's company.
Jim LaBorde, who was Arthur Andersen & Co.'s managing partner of
finance and administration, said of Mr. Andersen: "Art was just like a
magnet. The more you worked with him, the more it felt like he was
family. And I guarantee you, you were family as far as Art was
concerned. He just embraced you like he was your brother."
LaBorde credited Mr. Andersen with revolutionizing the company's
treasury functions. He recalled that in the first year Mr. Andersen
took over, he made the company $15 million after he created a system
by which he could sweep cash from all of the company's U.S. offices
and invest it overnight.
"Art was really, really smart," LaBorde said. "He had great experience
before he came to the firm. He was an intellectual. He was thinking
all the time."
Other than work, Mr. Andersen liked to hunt, fish, sail and fly airplanes.
He is survived by his children and wife, Joan.
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