Paul R. Judy, chairman and president of A.G. Becker & Co., announces a merger of his company with S.G. Warburg & Co. and Compagnie Financiere de Paris while at the First National Bank Building on June 25, 1974, in Chicago. Paul R. Judy was CEO of the investment bank A.G. Becker & Co. in the 1970s and 1980s and as a civic leader is credited with strengthening Chicago cultural institutions, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra.
After college, Judy served in the Marine Corps, primarily as a machine gun and mortar platoon leader, his family said. He subsequently got an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1957. Judy returned to the Chicago area in 1965 when he was named chairman of A.G. Becker’s executive committee. He was promoted to CEO and president in 1968 and chairman in 1971.
In 1974, Judy oversaw and championed another deal when A.G. Becker joined forces with two European investment firms, S.G. Warburg and Banque de Paribas. He stepped down as CEO in 1978 and exited as A.G. Becker’s chairman in 1981, at age 50. After his departure, the merged entity was taken over by Paribas, which then sold A.G. Becker to Merrill Lynch in 1984.
In the early 1990s, Judy founded the Symphony Orchestra Institute, a group aimed at fostering greater effectiveness in how North American symphony organizations functioned.