Robert L. Raclin

Oct. 27, 1918 - May 13, 2008
SOUTH BEND - Robert L. Raclin, 89, of South Bend, Indiana, and Naples, Florida, passed away peacefully on Monday, May 13, 2008. He is survived locally by his wife, Ernestine M. Raclin Bob was born in Chicago, IL, on October 27, 1918, to H.L. and Laura Raclin, and was raised in Winnetka, Illinois. He attended Greeley and Skokie schools and New Trier High School where he was the center on the 1935 Illinois State Championship football team. He was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1940, a member of Beta Theta Phi fraternity, and was a varsity letterman on the Squash Racquets team. His sister, Virginia, and his brother, Ralph, are both deceased. He served as a regular commissioned officer, United States Marine Corps, from 1940 to 1946, rising to the rank of major. He participated in the New Caledonia landings as company commanding officer with the 2nd Marine Corps Parachute Regiment and subsequently served as commanding officer of the Albany, New York, Naval District. Upon his release from service, Bob joined his father at H.L. Raclin & Sons, a cash vegetable oil brokerage firm. In 1950 the family business was sold to the World Commerce Corporation, a private investment firm founded by General "Wild Bill" Donovan, former director of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services - forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency), and Sir William Stephenson, former head of Britain's MI6. He became a Director of World Commerce whose investors were restricted to former American and British intelligence operatives from the Second World War. Beginning in the late 1940s, Bob traveled to Europe over 100 times, visiting with various European business and governmental officials. Periodically, after these trips, he made discreet detours to Washington, D.C., where he was de-briefed by numerous national security officials including the Central Intelligence Agency and others interested in the economic affairs of a variety of governments, businesses and individuals. His family learned this in the early 1990s. In 1952 Bob became a partner of Bache & Co. in charge of the Midwest Commodity Department and began to lecture at The Harvard Business School, the University of Minnesota, Michigan State, Wharton, and Marquette University. He was appointed by the New York Stock Exchange to liquidate a potentially devastating fraud in the soybean oil market perpetrated by Tino DeAngelis and later, working with the U.S. Departments of State and Treasury, managed the liquidation of the Hunt Brothers attempt to "corner" the silver market. He also appeared as a witness before the Brandt Commission and the World Food Council. In 1965 Bob joined Paine, Webber, Jackson and Curtis as National Director of Commodities. In 1980 he resigned from Paine Webber to become a director of Merrill Lynch International, managing director of Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, vice president of Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., and a director of Merrill Lynch Futures, Inc., and Merrill Lynch International Bank, London. In 1985, after retirement from his investment banking and brokerage career, he became Deputy Undersecretary of Health and Human Services in the Reagan administration. Bob held numerous leadership positions in his industry. He has served as a director of the Chicago Board of Trade and as governor of the Chicago Clearing Corporation. He also served as president of the Commodity Brokers Association, and is a past governor and past chairman of the Midwest Stock Exchange. He also served as president of the Bond Club of Chicago and past chairman of the Mid-Continental District of the Securities Industry Association. Other corporate affiliations include directorships of 1st Source Bank, South Bend, Indiana; Bremen State Bank, Bremen, Ind.; and The Marshall County Bank & Trust Co., Plymouth, Ind. He served on the board of the Colonial Hospital Supply Company, was a trustee of the Illinois Insurance Exchange, a life trustee of the Illinois Institute of Technology, and a consultant to The First Commercial Financial Group. After he retired from business, Bob remained active serving as a consultant for a variety of financial service companies including the Northern Trust Company and Merrill Lynch. In the area of public affairs Bob has been an active campaigner for the United Funds and for the Paraplegic Foundation on whose board he served. It was established by General Omar Bradley to assist wounded veterans. In 1987 he received a White House appointment to serve as chairman of the National Citizens Commission on Alcoholism. He was also a trustee of The Chicago Symphony. Bob particularly enjoyed waterfowl hunting and golf. On July 22, 1977, Bob married Ernestine Morris Carmichael of South Bend, and is survived by her. He is also survived by four children, Jonathan of Sea Island, Georgia, Nannette of Bedford, New Hampshire, Jean Oddy of London, England, and Grier of St. Louis; and four stepchildren, Carmi Murphy of South Bend, Crom Carmichael of Nashville, Tennessee, Tina Nickle of South Bend, Indiana, and Clark Carmichael of Cincinnati, Ohio. Additionally he is survived by 26 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. He was previously married to Jean Curran Raclin of Evanston, Illinois, who died in 1976. Interment services will be private. A memorial service will be held at noon Monday, May 19, in The First Presbyterian Church, 333 West Colfax Avenue, South Bend, Indiana. Visitation will be held for one hour before the memorial service in the church. In lieu of flowers, please consider contributions to the Robert L. Raclin Memorial Fund at the Memorial Health Foundation, 615 N Michigan, South Bend, IN 46601.