Biographies

A. Kent Sykes

Name:
A. Kent Sykes

Born:
1891

Joined AGB:
1929

Primary Dept/Div:
Advertising. Registration Statement Compliance.

Primary Office:
Chicago

Kent Sykes joined Becker in 1929 in parallel with Harold Wood. Their work was joined in many ways as a result of the national securities legislation of the early 1930s. Kent was responsible for participating with counsel in the drafting of Registration Statements and the resulting Prospectuses to be used by salesmen in obtaining orders for managed underwritings. Part of Kent Sykes’ skill was the use of plain and understandable language in describing an issuer’s products and/or services. His writings were always clear without exuberence and superlatives. To young corporate finance associates, Kent was a mentor with respect to drafting clear, descriptive, balanced narratives relating to financial matters. Kent had the additional duty to carry out the firm’s advertising program, both as to tombstones, and the approval of tombstones, as well as institutional and other advertising placements, following in the footsteps of Joe Levin. Kent was about 40 when he joined Becker and retired after some 35 years of service.

Obituary:
Chicago Tribune, October 31, 1980. Private services will be held for A. Kent Sykes, 89, a longtime resident of the Beverly area, who died Wednesday in an Evergreen Park nursing home. He was a retired vice president of A.G. Becker & Co., stock brokers. He was survived by his wife, Janet, a daughter and three sons.