John Stephen Fitzgerald

John S. Fitzgerald
John Stephen Fitzgerald, 77, a former Chicago area resident and a pioneer in trading mortgage interest-rate futures at the Chicago Board of Trade, died March 27 at his home in Vancouver, Wash., with his wife of 30 years at his side. John was a 1966 graduate of Brother Rice High School in Chicago and earned a degree in accounting in 1970 from Lewis College, now Lewis University.

John contracted polio at the age of 4, and his family was quarantined for three months. He learned to walk again with the aid of a metal leg brace and his mother’s determination. As a member of the CBOT, he was the only trader allowed to use a stool on the trading floor. After working for O’Connor Grain, he became one of the first traders in interest-rate futures when the CBOT launched GNMA “Ginnie Mae” futures contracts in 1975.

Though raised in Chicago’s South Side Beverly neighborhood, John was a devoted and long-time fan of the Chicago Cubs.

Survivors include his wife, Connie (Garry); her children, Laura (Richard) Eckert, Stephen (Susan) Connor, and Brian Connor; five grandchildren, Tristan, Soren, Alex and Tori Eckert, and Pepper Connor; John’s two brothers, Patrick (Genevieve) and William; and two sisters, Nancy Stokes and Sarah (Richard) Stoeckly.

Also surviving are many nieces and nephews, including his godchildren, Colleen Fitzgerald Nisivaco and Daniel Fitzgerald.

He was predeceased by his parents, Patrick T. and Sarah R. (Adams) Fitzgerald.; a sister, Mary Kay Gibbons; sister-in-law, Patricia Fitzgerald; and brothers-in-law, Thomas Stokes and Patrick Gibbons.

Internment was private.