James T. Rhind, former Chairman and Managing Partner of the law firm Bell, Boyd, & Lloyd (now K&L Gates) and Trustee Emeritus of the University of Chicago, died Jan. 16, in Glenview after a brief stay in hospice. He was 90.
Born July 21, 1922, in Chicago, Rhind attended Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, and completed his bachelor’s degree at The Ohio State University, where he graduated cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1943.
Rhind served in the U.S. Army, attending the Military Intelligence Japanese Language School at the University of Michigan from 1943 to 1945. He spent 1946 and part of 1947 in Tokyo, working as a translator for the U.S. War Department.
Rhind enrolled at Harvard Law School in 1947, completing his law degree with honors in 1950. He then joined the Bell, Boyd, & Lloyd law firm in Chicago, where he spent his entire career except for 1953 and 1954, when he worked in the Eisenhower Administration in Washington, D.C. From 1976 to 1986, Rhind served as chairman of the executive committee of the firm, and for seven of those years he also was Managing Partner.
Rhind joined the University Board of Trustees in 1976. He assumed Life Trustee status in 1992, and became Emeritus Trustee in 2007. He served as vice chair of the board from 1984 to 1992, chairing ad hoc committees on the board chairmanship, the bylaws, visiting committees and Medical Center.
Rhind served as a Medical Center Trustee for more than 20 years, was chair of the Law School Visiting Committee for four years, and a life member of the Divinity School and School of Social Service Administration visiting committees. A major supporter of the Divinity School and the Division of the Humanities, he also was a member of the Harper Society Founder’s Circle and the Phoenix Society.
Rhind served on many civic, corporate and nonprofit boards in Chicago and nationally, including the Ravinia Festival Association, Children’s Home + Aid, Hamilton College, Presbyterian Homes, Kewaunee Scientific Corporation, Microseal Corporation, Griffith Laboratories, Inc., USI Corporation and Lindberg Corporation.
Rhind is survived by his wife, Laura Campbell Rhind, a life member of the Art History and Music visiting committees; a daughter, Constance Rhind Robey; two sons, James and David, a member and former chair of the Music Visiting Committee; and five grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 11, 2013, at the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, where he had served as an Elder.
The University Board of Trustees will present a memorial resolution in Rhind’s honor at the March meeting.
—Prof. Chuan He
