Area businessman Al Tinoly dies at 68

In 1998, two years after Roosevelt University opened the Robin campus in Schaumburg, Alfred J. Tinoly joined its community advisory board.

Having earned his master's degree in business administration at Roosevelt and then serving as a human resources vice president with Experian in Schaumburg, Mr. Tinoly brought a mix of loyalty and a broad network of community contacts to the role.

Within two years, Mr. Tinoly accepted the chairmanship of the advisory committee. Fellow members recall one of his lasting contributions was engineering the Schaumburg campus' first study abroad program at Nottingham Kent University in England.

He traveled there in 2000 with then president of the Robin campus, John Josephs, and Ted Gross, former Roosevelt University president, to formalize the connection.

Roosevelt officials confirmed that the partnership remains active and now serves as part of Mr. Tinoly's legacy.

He died March 14. The former 27-year resident of Hoffman Estates, most recently of North Barrington, was 68.

"He was a big supporter of Roosevelt and a big supporter of the Robin campus," said Lisa Encarnation, of Roosevelt University.

At nearly the same time that Mr. Tinoly joined the Roosevelt board, he played an active role with the former Northwest Suburban Association of Commerce & Industry, accepting the chairmanship from 2000 to 2001.

"He was very interested in promoting the whole Schaumburg corridor, not only as a tech sector but as a viable place for business, residential and recreational pursuits," said his daughter Linda Tinoly, a senior vice president at Draftfcb in Chicago.

Robin Davies, a Rolling Meadows accountant, recalls the association's Golden Gala in January 2000 when she handed the gavel to Mr. Tinoly.

"He was a human resources expert so he was very helpful to the chamber in terms of recruiting," Davies said. "He did a lot of pro bono work, drawing on his professional experience."

Mr. Tinoly served with Experian from 1989, when it was known as Direct Marketing Technology, until his retirement in 2001. He saw the company grow from 200 employees to its current size of several thousand worldwide.

"At one time or another during his career he worked in staffing, benefits, employee relations and as strategic adviser to Experian's executive team," said Kristy Bennett, a human resources colleague who described him as her mentor.

At the 2000 association dinner, colleagues credited Mr. Tinoly with being a consensus builder, who helped form a political action committee of sorts that joined the association with seven other chambers to help impact state legislators about pro-business issues.

He also actively promoted business members to think about doing more business on the Internet.

"Eventually all businesses are going to be there," Mr. Tinoly said at the time. "It's going to be the way people do things."

Besides his daughter, Mr. Tinoly is survived by his wife of 46 years, Judith, as well as his daughters Lisa (Paul) Dunaway of St. Charles and Laura (David) Proctor of Inverness, and four grandchildren.

A memorial service will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Metropolis Ballroom, 111 W. Campbell St. in Arlington Heights.