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| James Michael McMullan | |
| June 27, 1934 - April 16, 2012 | |
| of Lake Forest, IL | |
| Funeral Service: 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 21, 2012 at First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest 700 North Sheridan Road Lake Forest, Illinois 60045 | |
| James Michael McMullan died Monday, April 16, 2012 surrounded by his family at his home in Lake Forest, Illinois. He was 77.
Mr. McMullan worked in the securities business for 50 years, 41 of which were with William Blair & Company in Chicago. After spending eight years as an account executive at Merrill Lynch in Jackson, Mississippi, Mr. McMullan joined William Blair & Company in 1969. Three years later he became a partner of the firm.
Mr. McMullan worked in a number of different capacities at William Blair & Company over the years. He was Manager of Syndicate from 1972 - 1986 and Manager of Equity Trading from 1981-1995. He also managed the Private Investor Department from 1986 -1997 and he was Director of William Blair Mutual Funds, Inc. from 1990-1999. Mr. McMullan served on William Blair & Company’s Executive Committee for over twenty years as well. His daughter, Carlette McMullan, joined the firm as a Financial Advisor in 1989, and together they formed the McMullan team managing investment portfolios for private clients until Mr. McMullan’s retirement in 2010. Mr. McMullan continued to be a trusted advisor to the team until his death.
Mr. McMullan was engaged throughout his career in industry affairs having served on the Board of Governors of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and the Securities Industry Association (SIA). He also served on the Region Firms Advisory Committee to the New York Stock Exchange. Mr. McMullan was Chairman of the Securities Industry Association Central States District and served on the District 8 Business Conduct Committee of the National Association of Securities Dealers from 1975 through 1978.
James (Jim) McMullan was born the eldest son to Milton and Thelma McMullan on June 27, 1934 in Lake, Mississippi and raised in Newton, Mississippi. He is survived by two sisters, Martha Ann Aasen (Lawrence), and Sarah McMullan, and one brother, the late David (Patricia). He played high school football and graduated from Newton High School in 1952. He attended the University of Mississippi in Oxford, graduating in 1956 with a B.B.A. in finance. While visiting his sister Sarah in Washington, D.C., he met Madeleine Engel de Janosi from Vienna, Austria, who lived in Washington and worked with the C.I.A. Three days later, Mr. McMullan proposed marriage to her in Senator James O. Eastland’s car. Madeleine and Jim were married for 54 years.
After military service and a short period selling farm equipment at his father’s International Harvester tractor store in Newton, Mr. McMullan joined Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith in Jackson, Mississippi as an account executive in 1961. Later, after moving to Chicago and joining William Blair & Company, Mr. McMullan received his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1976.
Maintaining lifelong ties to both Mississippi and to Chicago, Mr. McMullan was involved in many philanthropic efforts. He served as Director of the University of Mississippi Foundation and Advisory Council Chair, and later as Advisory Council Member of The University of Mississippi’s Center for Southern Culture 2001-Present. In 1996 The McMullan Fund was announced during a public ceremony at the 23rd annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference. The gift was designated for two joint professorships between the University of Mississippi’s Center for Southern Culture and two other departments on campus. “The Center has strengthened the liberal arts tradition of the University, and I think that is a great need of higher education institutions across the country,” Jim said at the time. “My wife and I are particularly interested in funding teaching positions.”
Most recently in 2012, Mr. and Mrs. McMullan made a generous donation to the new endowment that honors the work of their friend, retired Associate Director Ann Abadie by supporting the Oxford Conference for the Book. Mr. and Mrs. McMullan attended the conference through the years. Mr. McMullan was also a director of the Eudora Welty Foundation Board.
Since 1987, Mr. McMullan has provided college scholarships for over 24 high school students at his alma mater, Newton High School. The outstanding student report cards and the many letters of appreciation are testaments to how important Mr. McMullan’s Scholarship Foundation is to the students and ultimately to the community of Newton and to the state of Mississippi.
In 2004, Mr. McMullan established the Madeleine and James M. McMullan – Carl E Eybel, MD, Chair of Excellence in Clinical Cardiology to honor the career of Carl E. Eybel, MD, for his exemplary skills as a clinician and as a teacher of fellows, residents and medical students. Dr. Eybel was Mr. McMullan’s personal physician for many years. Additionally, Mr. and Mrs. James M. McMullan recently endowed a Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory for the new wing at Rush University Medical Center.
In addition to their residence in Lake Forest, Illinois, Mr. and Mrs. McMullan have a home in Pass Christian, Mississippi. The McMullans restored the Gulf Coast home, which was built in 1845 and which they use as a family vacation home. After hurricane Katrina destroyed Pass Christian, Mr. McMullan and his wife Madeleine were among the first homeowners to rebuild due to their deep connection to the community, donating generously to the Red Cross, the Pass Christian fire station, and the Pass Christian library. They also provided scholarships to area students to attend Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, where Mrs. McMullan once taught.
He is survived by his wife, Madeleine, his two daughters, Carlette McMullan, Principal with William Blair & Company of Chicago, Illinois and her husband John Gibbons; Margaret McMullan, writer and Melvin M. Peterson Endowed Chair in Literature and Writing at the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana and her husband Patrick O’Connor; and two grandchildren, Madeleine Honor Gibbons and James Raymond O’Connor. Also survived by many nieces and nephews.
There will be a memorial service at the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest on Saturday, April 21 at 10:30 a.m. Graveside services will be held at the McMullan family plot in Newton, Mississippi. In memory of Jim McMullan, contributions may be sent to the Eudora Welty Foundation, P.O. Box 55685, Jackson, MS 39296-5685.
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