Stuart L Scott

Stuart L. Scott was a key player in the growth of the commercial real estate management industry in Chicago, building LaSalle Partners into a real estate investment giant and managing the firm through its merger with Jones Lang Wooten in 1999. The pairing produced real estate services and investment management titan Jones Lang LaSalle, and Scott was the firm’s first CEO and chairman. Scott, 80, died of complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma on Feb. 25 2019 at his home in Lake Bluff, said his wife of 37 years, retired Cook County Judge Anne O’Laughlin Scott. He had lived in Lake Bluff for 31 years and also had a home in Hobe Sound, Fla. Born Stuart Lothian Scott in Montreal, Scott was the son of an actuary for CNA. When Scott was 3, his family relocated to Wilmette. He grew up there and graduated from New Trier High School. Scott received a bachelor’s degree in 1961 from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., and a law degree from Northwestern University in 1964. After law school, Scott began working as an attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also worked briefly for the Vedder Price law firm before entering commercial real estate. His first job was at Arthur Rubloff & Co., where he was a vice president and assistant to the chairman. In 1973, Scott took a job as president and chief operating officer at development company Equity Control Corp., which was renamed Equity Associates. Equity Associates was the development unit of LaSalle Partners. At the end of 1992, Scott became LaSalle Partners’ sole chairman and chief executive. Scott retired as chairman of Jones Lang LaSalle’s board at the end of 2004. Scott joined Hamilton College’s board of trustees in 1985 and chaired its annual fund and served as the board’s chairman from 2002 until 2008. He served on the boards of the African Wildlife Foundation and NumbersUSA, an organization that pushes for reducing legal immigration levels. Scott also was chairman of the board of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago from 1990 until 1998. Two previous marriages ended in divorce. In addition to his wife, Scott is survived by six daughters, Alexis, Sarah, Charity, Toni Feingold, Fiona Mechem and Phoebe; a son, George; a sister, Martha Donegan; and nine grandchildren.