Silas Keehn

Soon after he took the helm of the Chicago Fed, Penn Square Bank in Oklahoma failed in July 1982. The cascade effect of the bank's lending practices was partly responsible for the collapse of Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust of Chicago, which had to write off $500 million in loans purchased from Penn Square. Keehn, 85, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago from 1981 to 1994, died of natural causes on Feb. 13 2016 at his home in Evanston. Keehn was born in New Rochelle, N.Y., His father, Grant, was the youngest partner at Goldman Sachs, Peter Keehn said. The Keehn family moved between New York and Chicago several times and Silas Keehn attended Rye Country Day School in Rye, N.Y., Joseph Sears School in Kenilworth, Ill., and later, Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, from which he graduated in 1948. Keehn earned a bachelor's degree in government from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., in 1952 and started his graduate studies at Harvard University. After one year, he enlisted in the Navy during the Korean War and became a gunnery officer on the naval destroyer, the USS Goodrich. After three years of service, Keehn returned to Harvard and received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1957. That same year, he joined a training program at Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh. Keehn became a director and was named vice chairman in 1980. When he was not chosen in a succession plan for chairman, he took a position as chairman and CEO of Pullman, Inc. In 1981, he was named the president of the Federal Reserve Bank. Following his retirement from the Federal Reserve, Keehn became the sole American member of the supervisory board of Dutch financial institution ABN-AMRO. He was also a director of Kewaunee Scientific Corp. as well as the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the National Futures Association. Keehn was active at the former Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center for many years, serving as a trustee and member of the Executive Committee. Keehn also was a director of the United Way/Crusade of Mercy, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Club of Chicago and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. He became a member of the board of trustees at Hamilton College in 1979 and became a life trustee in 1999. He is survived his son Peter and by his wife of 55 years, Marcia; two daughters, Libby Lewis and Britta Keehn Scott; two sisters, Gretchen Thomsen and Nora Keehn; two half-sisters, Dorka Keehn and Fruzsina Keehn Sherry; and eight grandchildren.