Gerald F. Fitzgerald

Gerald Francis Fitzgerald (July 6, 1925 – October 30, 2010) was an American banker and father of former U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald. Gerald Fitzgerald was the founder and chairman of Suburban Bancorp, Inc., a publicly traded multibank holding company with 13 banks and 30 locations when Bank of Montreal acquired it by merger in 1994. He brought the first ATM to Illinois in 1968 and established one of the first multibank holding companies in Illinois in 1982.

Early life and education Fitzgerald was born on July 6, 1925, in Chicago and raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After graduating from Fenwick High School, he served overseas in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was a combat engineer with the 1271st Engineer Combat Battalion and participated in the Ardennes-Alsace and Rhineland Campaigns. Following the war he received a B.S. in commerce from Northwestern University in 1949.

After graduating from Northwestern, Fitzgerald worked briefly for his family’s business, Premier Printing Company. In 1961, Fitzgerald acquired two banks in the Chicago suburbs, Lake Villa Trust and Savings Bank and the Palatine National Bank. Over the next three decades, when Illinois was still a unit banking state, he founded five suburban Chicago banks de novo and led the acquisition of many others, ultimately creating a network of 13 banks with 30 locations in Cook, Lake, McHenry, DuPage and Kane County, Illinois.

When Illinois law changed in 1982 to allow a single holding company to own multiple banks, Fitzgerald brought all of his banks under the umbrella of Suburban Bancorp, Inc., one of Illinois’s first multibank holding companies. It was listed on the NASDAQ. He also believed that borrowers who amortized their mortgages as quickly as possible had better financial character than those who sought long amortizations or the lowest possible monthly payments. His banks would only extend mortgages that amortized in 15 years or less and would not make any loans with an amortization period longer than 20 years.

Fitzgerald owned thoroughbred racehorses as well as a thoroughbred breeding farm and racing stable called Bank Note Farm. He named his horses after banking terms, such as One Over Prime and Disintermediation. He also collected rare books and maps, compiling an extensive collection of old masters paintings and portraits. In retirement he authored the privately published book, Africa by Air, about his 1973 circumnavigation of Africa.

Fitzgerald was a consultant to NATO in 1976 and served on the Illinois Racing Board from 1968 to 1971.

Philanthropy Fitzgerald was a benefactor to Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, a missionary hospital in Gabon, as well as Northwestern University, the Newberry Library, and the Little Sisters of the Poor.