Mike Thomas

1951 - 2022

The world has lost a true gentleman, a man of unquestionably fine character, with the death of Mike Thomas. Mike was a true Renaissance man, bringing equal passion and gifts to his music, his boating, his career and most importantly, his family.

Born January 19, 1951 in Grand Rapids Michigan, Mike grew up in East Grand Rapids until college, after which he moved first to Evanston and Winnetka, then to Chicago and ultimately to Naples, Florida for the rest of his life. In Chicago, while he spent much of his time working, he enjoyed belonging to The Chicago Club, Chicago Yacht Club, Saddle & Cycle Club, Economic Club, and The Casino.

For decades, Mike was lead guitarist in two different bands. The first, SeaBreeze, performed at venues from Michigan to Anguilla, where they performed at the ultra-cool Moonsplash Festival in Anguilla, started by Bankie Banx. They spent the week performing around the island be it with Kevin Bacon at Foxy's, entertaining diners at Straw Hat and Blanchard's or just jamming on the beach until the wee hours of the morning. His next band, Dr. Bombay, performs in Chicago and often donated their performances to support charitable events. They played everywhere from the Lincoln Park Zoo Ball to House of Blues.

Having grown up sailing with his father on Reed's Lake in Grand Rapids, boats were a part of Mike's DNA. Many boats later, Mike finally ended up with his beloved 58' Bertram and enjoyed many trips to Harbor Springs and elsewhere. He always captained and docked this boat without assistance, no small feat given frequent bad weather and narrow dock slips. Not surprisingly, Mike was expert at celestial navigation.

Mike attended Duke University and credited Duke with giving him the education and tools that were critical to his success. Mike was awarded Duke's most prestigious scholarship, the A.B. Duke Scholarship started by the founder of Duke. This was a full merit-based scholarship for students with outstanding academic achievement and world-changing potential. Though he had scholarship offers to other colleges, upon visiting Duke, Mike knew it was the place for him. It was actually at Duke that Mike met his first wife, Phyllis Scholl Thomas, with whom he enjoyed many years together and both cared about and respected always. An Econ major, Mike graduated, literally, at the top of his class, and was forevermore a Blue Devil Basketball fan.

After Duke, Mike joined the First Scholars program at the First National Bank of Chicago which was the start of a long and illustrious career there culminating in positions as Chief Financial Officer and EVP/Co-head of Institutional banking. While working at First Chicago, Mike also completed his MBA at University of Chicago, where he graduated top of his class, summa cum laude. He often spoke of having Myron Scholes as a professor. Most of Mike's closest friends originated from his early days at First Chicago.

Mike next spent many years in Mergers & Acquisitions as Managing Director at Lazard Freres in the Financial Institutions group. He loved working at Lazard. He quickly earned the ear of many of the savviest CEOs in the banking industry and originated some of the largest bank mergers during his years there. After his successful tenure at Lazard, Mike went on to join Chicago Federal Home Loan Bank as CEO, and then for the rest of his career, the private equity firm, Castle Creek Capital, as Managing Principal.

During the last two decades of Mike's career, he also sat on various Corporate Boards including the UBS mutual funds, HCC Insurance and some regional banks. He worked on numerous exciting projects from helping John Canning with the Milwaukee Brewers to assisting Richard Sandor gain support and traction for the American Financial Exchange.

Throughout, Mike was committed to giving back. Mike sat on the Evanston Hospital and NorthShore University HealthSystem Boards for about 30 years, chairing both the Audit and Finance committees over the years. He combined a keen intellect and attention to detail with strategic insights and guidance from which his fellow board members and the management team frequently benefited. Earlier, he was on the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement as well as Leadership Greater Chicago. He was also a guest lecturer at University of Chicago. These activities and his early career success propelled his selection as one of Crain's "40 under 40". Mike was on Duke's Fuqua Board of Visitors for many years, and most recently on Duke's Trinity Board of Visitors. He also mentored the children of numerous friends, helping with their career aspirations.

While Mike had many friends, he particularly valued his friendships with Mike Rankin, John Canning, Ken Wilson, John Eggemeyer, Bob Rosholt, Terry Savage, Dave Vitale, and John Auwers. He loved his sister Bettina Hall and her husband Ron deeply and shared many great times with them. All would say that Mike was both reserved and a great listener but that when Mike Thomas spoke, everyone listened--to what was often a nuance no one considered, a pithy comment likely to generate a laugh, or an unconsidered insight.

Bar none, Mike's greatest passion was his son John Edward Thomas. The sun truly rose and set with John and the pride he had watching John grow into a fine young man, with many of his own gentlemanly qualities, was huge. Though Mike was a workaholic, he carved out time to be a Cub Scout leader, to participate in many Latin school activities that John was in – never missing a school concert or a Roman's Run, assisting with Hamlin Baseball and camping out with John annually at the Saddle.

Mike was committed to John making his own decision about college. Still, his joy when John voiced strong preference for Duke and was accepted was limitless.

Mike and his wife, Diane, had a spectacular love affair. Crazy about each other, they were complementary in so many ways. Mike wanted nothing more than for Diane to be happy and said "yes" to anything that was important to her, even buying her many horses which he often said was "the only investment worse than a boat". He became enchanted with the horses, even traveling with Diane and John to Dublin to watch their horse successfully jump in a major grand prix.

Diane and John feel fortunate to have had Mike as long as they had him.

Services will be private. A celebration of Mike's life will be held in Chicago during May. Details to follow. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Mike's honor to the J. Mikesell Thomas Student Mental Wellness Endowment at Duke University, attn: Justin Michalka, Trinity College, Duke University, Box 90429, Durham, NC 27708