Maurice Fulton, Former President of Fantus Co. and WWII Navy Officer, Dies at 94

The following obituary is from Chicago Jewish Funerals:

Maurice Fulton of Highland Park, IL and Boca Raton, FL, formerly of Glencoe, former president and chairman of the board of the Fantus Company, died August 31 in Highland Park, Illinois, at the age of 94.

The Fantus Factory Locating Service (later, the Fantus Company) was the oldest and largest consulting firm dedicated to factory site selection. Beginning when his father-in-law bought surplus material from a Chicago factory and helped the company relocate the plant to a new location, the Fantus Company evolved from a 3-person business (Fantus and brother-in-law Leonard Yaseen of NY) into the premier authority on plant location and pioneering research in economic geography. The Fantus Company selected sites for the IRS, Volvo, Volkswagen, and other car manufacturers relocating to the US, and over six thousand factories, consulted to cities, states, federal agencies (HUD) and nations develop policies to attract economic development. During his tenure at the company, Fantus was consultant to governors of 11 states, and the White House under Presidents Nixon and Carter. The company was sold to Dunn & Bradstreet, and is now a division of Deloitte & Touche. Fulton lectured widely, authored books and articles and taught a course on industrial location at his alma mater, the University of Chicago.

Son of William and Sadie Fedotin, younger brother of Lionel, Fulton was raised on Chicago’s West Side on Douglas in the closely-knit Lawndale area where families and couples would promenade in the evening, and children would play baseball before being run off by police. Of modest means, he recalled his brother smuggling him into Comiskey Park to see the White Sox play Babe Ruth’s Yankees. At age 13 he began working at Mailing Shoes for $2.00/week, a job he kept until shipping off to war. He entered the University of Chicago when halfway through his senior year of high school, enabled by a football scholarship granted just in time for the university to drop the sport. He graduated with combined bachelors and JD degree in 5 years, becoming editor of the Law Review.

It was at the university he first met the fellow student and love of his life, Muriel Fantus. The night their parents first met one another was the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Initially rejected from an officer training program due to albumin in his urine, he was coached on how to foil the lab tests by drinking lots of water; “I was then working as a clerk at a law office and spent the following week mostly around the water cooler.” When he returned to be retested he was nearly rejected again because his urine was nearly pure water. He graduated with his uniform and orders under his graduation robe, and after one last evening at Ravinia in naval dress whites with Muriel, he entered the Navy as an officer. Fulton fought in and around the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, and later the Central Pacific. He participated in the invasions of Guam and Leyte, often coordinating movement of LST’s, formally known as Landing Ship Tanks, and less formally as “long slow targets.” Fulton received the navy’s commendation and the Presidential Unit Citation for “outstanding heroism.” While on brief leave from the war in 1944, he married Muriel, before returning to active service.

Generous with his time and money, he gave both to the Art Institute of Chicago, Ravinia Music Festival, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Morikami Museum, served on the boards of a number of non-profits, but especially his beloved University of Chicago. As romantic as he was philanthropic, both came together in persuading the university to put a plaque in the ground on campus where he and Muriel first met in 1938. A lecture series on the history of Law is named for Maurice and Muriel Fulton. For all his engagement with the world, his family knew him first and foremost as a romantic, whose first concern was always his beloved Muriel whose presence was all he required for his happiness. Two clocks hung on his wall, more or less in sync. Not long before he died he told his son that the best moment of his day was waking up next his wife.

Fulton is survived by Muriel, to whom he was married for nearly 70 years, two daughters, Barbara Sideman and Jane Alt (Howard), and son Paul (Cathy), 11 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren. His oldest daughter, Peggy Heller (Steven), predeceased him in 2012.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, September 14 at 10:00 AM at Lake Shore Country Club, 1255 Sheridan Rd., Glencoe, IL. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the charity of your choice in Maurice’s memory.

Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals – Skokie Chapel, 847.229.8822, www.cjfinfo.com