6 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Failure Taught Them How to Succeed
My father and my mother's brother began their careers in the now defunct savings and loan industry in Chicago in the late 1950s. My uncle George was a young executive at Fairfield Savings and Loan, where his father, my grandfather, was president. In the early 1940s, my grandfather—'Pa' to us grandkids—had been a federal bank examiner. When the government decided to convert the failing Fairfield bank into a savings and loan—commonplace after the Depression—Pa got the nod. Right place, right time.
My dad was an apprentice real estate appraiser at Draper and Kramer, a mortgage banking company. Established in 1893 by Arthur W. Draper and Adolph F. Kramer, the firm still operates today. According to its website, it became 'one of Chicago's premiere mortgage banking and residential real estate management firms,' promoting home ownership and providing residential financing during a critical period of city growth.
