Background
Pritzker, Robert Alan was born on June 30, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Son of Abram Nicholas and Fanny (Doppelt) Pritzker.
manufacturing company executive
Pritzker, Robert Alan was born on June 30, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Son of Abram Nicholas and Fanny (Doppelt) Pritzker.
Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering, Illinois Institute Technology, Chicago, 1946; postgraduate in business administration, University of Illinois.
He has two brothers: Donald Pritzker and Jay Pritzker. Robert Pritzker received a bachelor"s degree in industrial engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1946 and an honorary doctorate in 1984. He taught night courses at IIT and began serving on the Board of Trustees in 1962, and served as a University Regent until the time of his death.
He also taught evening classes at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (now the Booth School of Business) in the late 1970s and through the 1980s.
His class consisted of cases developed from actual business take-overs he was involved with, and students had to recommend whether or not to purchase the companies under study. Pritzker started The Marmon Group, an international association of autonomous manufacturing and service companies.
Marmon"s assets constitute half of the Pritzker family fortune. Robert"s success can be partially attributed to his unique business structure, in which employees are trusted to make more key decisions, independent of the central office, than in other typical manufacturing settings.
This independence allows for more creativity, and increases speed and productivity.
Concurrently, Pritzker spent a year as Chairman of the National Association of Manufacturers. In 2002, Robert Pritzker retired from his position of President of The Marmon Group and assumed the role of President of Colson Associates, Incorporated., a holding company of caster, plastics moldling, hardware and medical companies, including Acumed, OsteoMed, and Precision Edge Surgical Products Company, among others They had two children:Matthew Pritzker (b 1982) – is a real-estate entrepreneur, the head of the Matthew Pritzker Company, and owns part of Chicago-based HomeMade Pizza Company and State Street Pictures.
Liesel Pritzker Simmons (b 1984) – a child actress who starred in A Little Princess and played the United States President"s daughter in film Air Force One.
Robert Pritzker preferred to fly coach despite having access to a family-owned corporate jet: "If I ask my managers to go coach how can I go first class? That"s leadership.".
Chairman board Pritzker Foundation, Chicago. Trustee, chairman Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Immediate past chairman Field Museum of Natural History.
Board directors Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center. Member National Academy of Engineering, National Association Manufacturers (former chairman).
Married Mayari Sargent. Children: James, Linda, Karen, Matthew, Liesel.