Nov. 29--Financial adviser and economist William Hummer worked for more than 60 years in the firm founded by his father, sharing wise counsel and a positive outlook that served generations of clients.
"He was a man of integrity," said Jeannie Mussa, a senior financial associate who worked with Hummer for the last 26 years at Wayne Hummer Investments, now part of Wintrust Wealth Management in Chicago.
"He always put the client first," she said. "They trusted him. All he cared about was their succeeding and reaching their goals."
Hummer, 91, died of a heart attack Nov. 22 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, according to his wife, Melanie. He lived for more than 30 years in the Streeterville neighborhood and for 30 years before that in Gold Coast.
Hummer was born in LaSalle, Ill. After graduating from LaSalle-Peru High School, he went on to Princeton University but interrupted his studies there during World War II to serve with the Army Air Corps in England.
Hummer returned to Princeton and got a bachelor's degree in economics in 1948. After graduation, he began work as a journalist, first in the Chicago office of the New Jersey-based Journal of Commerce and then at the Washington Times-Herald in Washington.
He was still an Army reservist and was called again to service during the Korean War as a counterintelligence officer.
After he was discharged in 1952, Hummer joined the investment firm Wayne Hummer Co., founded by his father in 1931. He developed a broad understanding of economics by regularly visiting government officials and central bankers in the U.S. and abroad.
Mussa said while most of Hummer's clients were individuals, he also had some corporate accounts and a number of banks that worked with him to invest their clients' funds. In cultivating that bank business, Hummer would travel the Midwest calling on banks.
According to his firm, he was a contributor to eight national economic-forecasting panels, among them Blue Chip Economic Indicators, Blue Chip Financial Forecasts, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Bloomberg and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
In 1990, he won the Blue Chip Economic Indicators Award for forecasting accuracy sponsored by Sterling National Bank in New York, according to his firm. Hummer attributed his forecasting success to being in touch with the real world of investors and markets.
"Bill was so well-respected on Wall Street," said Ron Tyrpin, an associate at the Hummer firm since 1992 and before that a competitor with other firms. "I've never heard a bad word about Bill Hummer, both as a competitor and as an associate."
Hummer, who in his younger days showed up on lists of eligible Chicago bachelors, surprised many when he married the former Melanie Sayles Walkup when he was nearly 60.
"It was pretty shocking to everyone," his wife said, adding that the engagement was mentioned in the Tribune Business section. Both were members of what is now the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and met there.
Tyrpin said Hummer's success was built on long-term relationships.
Mussa agreed, saying, "For many of his accounts, (the original client's) heirs or beneficiaries heard so much about him, they then, too, put their trust in him."
Hummer is also survived by a daughter, Merritt; a son, Grant; and a brother, Philip.
A private service is planned.
Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter.
