Alan Saks

Alan Saks was an astute businessman who greatly expanded Saxon Paint and Hardware and opened the Chicago-based company to new markets as the family business' chief executive officer. Born on the Near West Side, Mr. Saks received a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago and started graduate school before joining the Army in 1951. In the service, he met his wife, Esther Shava Powerstein, and married her in 1954. After military service, Mr. Saks returned to the family business, Saxon, a company he had worked for throughout his childhood and a business his grandmother started in 1914. Mr. Saks became owner and CEO of Saxon during the 1960s and would expand the company from a four-store operation to a 50-store chain. Mr. Saks served on the Columbia College Board of Trustees and on the board for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, which honored him and his wife this fall for their volunteerism. He also co-founded Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, a social justice group. Mr. Saks also is survived by his wife Esther; by Jane and three other daughters, Ruth, Beth and Naomi; two sisters, Sylvia Beeders and Mimi Cooper; and two grandchildren.