Richard B. Ogilvie, Class of 1949

Former governor of Illinois

A 1949 graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law, Richard B. Ogilvie served as governor of Illinois from 1968 to 1972. Originally from Missouri, but raised in Illinois and New York, Ogilvie attended Yale University and served in the U.S. Army before coming to Chicago-Kent. After law school, he joined the Chicago law firm of Lord, Bissell & Brook and then went on to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and a Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General, heading a newly-formed Midwest office to combat organized crime.

Ogilvie was elected Cook County Sheriff in 1962 and was elected President of the Board of Cook County Commissioners in 1966. Midway through his term of office, he won the Republican nomination for governor of Illinois and was elected to serve in 1968. During his four years in office, he embarked upon a major modernization of state government, successfully advocated for a state constitutional convention increased social spending and secured Illinois’ first state income tax.

After his term as governor ended, Ogilvie returned to private practice at the law firm of Isham, Lincoln & Beale, serving as Chairman of its Managing Council. From 1979 to 1985, he served as Trustee of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company which was going through reorganization, and he was appointed Trustee of the Metropolitan Fair and Exposition Board in 1985. Ogilvie was also a director of CNA Financial, Inc., Fansteel, Inc., The LaSalle Street Fund and the Continental Illinois Corp. and its subsidiary Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co.

Ogilvie was also a Trustee of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, President of the Economic Club of Chicago and sat on the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Institute of Technology. He passed away in 1988 at the age of 65.