Biographies

Edward Blettner

Name:
Edward Blettner

Born:
1908

Joined AGB:
1971

Primary Dept/Div:
Executive

Primary Office:
Chicago

The relationship between the A.G. Becker firm and the First National Bank went back to the early 1900s when A.G. Becker was a friend of James Forgan, then President of First National. The friendship extended through Edgar Eagle Brown and on to Gayle Freeman and Homer Livingston, close friends of James Becker and in the case of Mr. Freemen and his successors, good friends of the author. With the death of Jim Becker, it was believed that to have a couple of “grey hairs” formally available to the managment would be a good idea, and thus Ed Blettner and John Lebor were put on a year-to-year retainer to attend meetings on request, read and critique organizational memoranda, and generally be available to members of top managment for consultation. Ed Blettner served in this capacity from about 1971 until 1975.

Obituary:
Chicago Tribune, October 28, 1987. Edward F. Blettner, 79, retired vice chairman and director of the First Chicago Corporation, died in his home of heart failure last Friday. Mr. Blettner retired in 1973 as the bank’s vice chairman and deputy chief executive officer after a career of 43 years. He was born in Chicago and graduated from Harvard University in 1928 and in 1930 earned a master’s degree in business administration. He later earned a degree from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. During WWII, he was a Lt. Col. in the Army and served in the South Pacific. He was chairman of various Chicago cultural institutions and a director of a number of major corporations. He is survived by his wife, Beverly; two daughters, and three grandchildren.