Marmon/Keystone history

As his and the family's investments grew, the law practice shrank, and in 1940 Pritzker & Pritzker stopped accepting outside clients, concentrating solely on Pritzker family investments.

Sulzle had been formed in 1945 and employed 550 people.

After buying Midwest Foundry Company in 1960, for example, Marmon's capital commitment led the company to expand tenfold in 20 years.

In 1963, the Pritzkers acquired the Marmon-Herrington Company, successor to the Marmon Motor Car Company.

In 1966, Marmon merged with publicly held Fenestra Incorporated, a maker of architectural steel doors and leaf springs for trucks.

Also in 1969, the company acquired the rights to the Universal Track Machine, a machine that Marmon had previously manufactured under contract.

In 1978, Marmon paid $27.3 million for American Safety Equipment Corporation, a maker of seat-belt systems for cars and aircraft, with $48.1 million in sales and owner of Kangol Limited, a British headwear manufacturer.

Completed in 1981, the Trans Union acquisition was unusual in that it was both huge and expensive.

A case in point is the Getz Corporation, a San Francisco-based Pacific trading company that grossed over $600 million in 1989.

Marmon also struggled to turn around some of the low-tech firms on which it had made its name. For example, in early 1995 it closed Fenestra Corp., a manufacturer of steel and fiberglass doors and door frames, which had lost money for the previous four years.

Wheeler Group, a distributor of tubing, was acquired the next year. Its subsidiary Marmon/Keystone Corporation acquired Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Future Metals in the fall of 1996.

Total sales exceeded $6 billion in 1998.

Revenues slipped to $6.5 billion in 2001.

Robert A. Pritzker retired in January 2002 at the age of 75.

Marmon Group companies saw pre-tax earnings rise 32 percent in 2003, to $573 million.

Annual safety record broken with 12 branches accident-free in 2005, December 31st