Jerome A Urbik

Jerome A. Urbik transformed his small insurance agency into a Hinsdale-based professional financial services firm and built it into a $2 billion company that employs more than 100 people. The longtime Elmhurst resident was president and CEO of Hinsdale Associates from its inception in 1965 until his retirement in 1990, when he turned it over to his son, Michael. He was a founding member of Legatus, a national organization of Catholic CEOs, and advised numerous political campaigns, including several for former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan. Mr. Urbik was born in Chicago and raised on the Southwest Side in the Brighton Park neighborhood. He and his family lived above his father's tavern, where he helped out after school and in the summer. He was groomed for the priesthood, graduating from what is now Techny Seminary near Northbrook, and later Divine Word Seminary in East Troy, Wis., but decided not to pursue that path just before his scheduled ordination in 1955. The 51-year resident of Elmhurst served on numerous boards of directors, including the United Republican Fund of Illinois and Illinois Citizens for Life. He had also served on the board of Lewis University. Mr. Urbik's wife died in 2008. Mr. Urbik also is survived by two other sons, Tony and John; two daughters, Laura Kern and Mary Gil; and 26 grandchildren.