Frederick C. Ford was a trailblazer for the African American community in Chicago’s business and civic world.
He was the first Black member and president of the Union League Club, the first Black top executive of the prominent Chicago-based property firm Draper and Kramer, and the first Black president of the University of Illinois Student Senate.
“He’s always been inspirational. Whatever he got involved in, he would assume leadership roles. He was a role model for so many of us, in particular myself,” said his longtime friend, Lester McKeever, who worked in the administrations of former Mayors Harold Washington and Richard M. Daley.
McKeever said he forever cherished his friendship with Mr. Ford. While acknowledging his own successes, McKeever said, “I really attribute that in large part to what Fred did to lead me through my life and career.”
Mr. Ford died Monday of complications from pneumonia. He was 98.
He was born Aug. 27, 1926, in St. Louis to Lafayette and Florence Ford. His father was a postal worker and the president of the National Alliance of Postal Workers, and his mother took care of the home. Mr. Ford was the youngest of three brothers and two sisters.
While attending Sumner High School in St. Louis, Mr. Ford assumed several leadership positions, including class president. During summers, he worked as a lifeguard at a St. Louis YMCA, where he met his future wife, Dorothy, who worked there as a waitress.
At the time, state colleges in Missouri barred African American applicants, leading Mr. Ford to attend the University of Illinois, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting. He continued north after graduation, landing an accountant job at Mary T. Washington and Co., headed by the first Black woman to earn a certified public accountant license.
He joined Draper and Kramer in 1951 as a staff accountant and climbed the company’s ranks, becoming executive vice president and chief financial officer in 1968.
“The thing about Fred is he was the CFO, but to be a really fine CFO, you have to understand more than just the finance,” said Murray Wolbach III, who worked with Mr. Ford at Draper and Kramer for almost 45 years. “You have to understand how the company works, how the decisions work in other areas than yours, and Fred was a master of that. … And he was a nice guy while doing it.”
Mr. Ford and Dorothy Ford, who turned 100 this year, married in 1953. They moved into a Draper and Kramer development at Lake Meadows on the South Side, then eventually settled in Gary, Indiana, where his wife was a school teacher. There they raised two children, Rebecca and Lafayette, who was named after his grandfather.
Lafayette Ford reminisced on his childhood days spent at his family’s summer house in DuPage County. He described his parents as “entertainers.” They hosted all kinds of friends and guests, even Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks.
Though Mr. Ford lived a busy life, serving on various boards and volunteering in addition to his full-time job, Lafayette Ford always appreciated the time his father gave to his family.
“He was always available to talk to us, no matter what,” Lafayette Ford said. “I mean, even when he was at work or I’m calling from college, he would make himself available to talk to us.”
In 1969, the debate over Mr. Ford’s admission to the Union League Club of Chicago was among the most controversial in the club’s history.
A chapter from the 2004 book, “Glory, Darkness, Light: A History of the Union League Club of Chicago,” by James D. Nowlan, detailed the contentious arguments that preceded Mr. Ford’s election as the club’s first Black member.
“The 1969 election of Fred Ford represented a clear changing of the old guard with the new,” an excerpt reads. “Club custom was consciously put aside by the board — six committee votes to defer action would in any other case in Club history have resulted in withdrawal of a proposed candidacy, and would do so today.”
“However, once they became embroiled in a controversy more acrimonious and divisive than they had expected, [then-Union League Club President Milton Darr, Stan Enlund and John McEnerny, chairs of the club’s house and public affairs committees] and their supporters determined to see their professional and civic colleague Fred Ford elected, even at the expense of breaking with Club tradition,” the book continues.
Other leadership roles Mr. Ford assumed through the years include vice president of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, a member of the Gary Board of School Trustees (two years as president) and founder of the Gary Educational Development Foundation.
In addition to his wife, son and daughter, Mr. Ford is survived by two grandchildren, his son-in-law and daughter-in-law.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Union League Club’s Boys and Girls Club.
A memorial service is being planned for late summer at the Union League Club of Chicago, 65 W. Jackson Blvd.