Stanley Golder

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Stanley C. Golder (February 16, 1929 – January 5, 2000) was an American financier and private equity investor. He was born in Winnetka, Illinois, and studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, earning a B.S. in 1951. He began his career at First National Bank of Chicago and rose to executive vice president.

In the early 1970s, Golder became president of First Capital Corporation of Chicago and First Chicago Investment Corporation. He helped build First Chicago’s private equity program, backing companies like Federal Express, and led efforts as chairman of the National Venture Capital Association and the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies to change federal laws so pensions could invest in private equity.

In 1980 he left First Chicago to found Golder, Thoma & Cressey (GTCR). He retired as a partner in 1993 but stayed on as a consultant. GTCR was initially funded by William M. Blair. After Golder’s departure, John A. Canning Jr. took over at First Chicago and later started Madison Dearborn.

Golder was married to Joan Jacobi Golder. He served as president of the Chicago chapter of the American Jewish Committee and received its Human Rights Medallion in 1994. He and his wife donated $1.5 million to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to endow the Stanley C. and Joan J. Golder Distinguished Chair in Corporate Finance. The UIUC also honors him with the Stanley C. Golder Center for the Study of Private Equity.

Stanley Golder passed away from cancer at Evanston Hospital in 2000.