This past weekend, Halbert Scranton Gillette, chairman of the board and CEO of Scranton Gillette Communications, passed away due to complications from chemotherapy after a long battle with cancer. He was 81.
Scranton Gillette Communications publishes both Water & Wastes Digest and Water Quality Products.
Below is the obituary for Mr. Gillette:
Gillette
Halbert Scranton Gillette, 81, died November 22, 2003 at home in Lake Forest, Illinois after a long battle with prostate cancer.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, June 29, 1922, the son of Edward Scranton Gillette and Claribel Reed Thornton. Raised in Chicago and Winnetka, IL.
Mr. Gillette attended The Chicago Latin School, and graduated from the Philips Exeter Academy. In 1944 he graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in mechanical engineering and business.
He was commissioned U.S. Navy 1944-1946, and served in the U.S. mainland during World War II and in the Naval Reserves.
He was chairman of the board and CEO of Scranton Gillette Communications, Inc. which specializes in trade magazines, and was founded in 1906 by his grandfather. Mr. Gillette started as a salesman for Gillette Publishing in 1947. In 1960, two-thirds of Gillette Publishing Co. was sold to Ruben H. Donnelly, which then was merging with Dun & Bradstreet. Mr. Gillette also moved to Donnelly/Dun & Bradstreet as a publisher and a vice president. In 1970, he rejoined his father’s firm, then Scranton Publishing Company, and shortly become president of the firm, which was renamed Scranton Gillette Communications.
Mr. Gillette served as past president of the Chicago Business Papers Association, as well as on the board of several insurance companies. He was the former Chairman of the Board of Occidental Life Insurance.
He served as alderman in Lake Forest, IL from 1979 – 1986, and served on the Public Safety and Waterfront committees. He was co-chairman of the committee that oversaw the creation of the city’s current beachfront.
He was a member of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest, and Church of the Holy Innocents, in Lahaina, HI. He was also a member of the Onwentsia Club of Lake Forest, the Les Cheneaux Club, Cedarville, MI, and the Lahaina Yacht Club, HI.
Husband of Karla Ann Spiel Gillette; Father of Anne, Susan, James, Halbert and Edward; Grandfather of Alexander, Madeline, Carolyn, Julia, and Isabelle.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the University of Chicago Cancer Research Foundation, 5841 S. Maryland Avenue, MC 1140, Chicago, IL 60637. Memorial Service will be at 4:00 P.M. Wednesday, December 3, 2003 at The Church of the Holy Spirit, 400 E. Westminster Rd., Lake Forest, IL 60045. The visitation and interment will be private. Info: Wenban Funeral Home, Lake Forest 847/234-0022.
Source: SGC
