Former Arlington Hts. trustee praised for financial insight
A former Arlington Heights village trustee, who served residents in the late 1980s, died of an apparent heart attack on Saturday while vacationing in Biloxi, Miss.
Peter J. Hogan, an Arlington Heights native and 1972 graduate of St. Viator High School, died at the age of 55. For the last five years, he had lived in Jacksonville, Fla.
"He had a financial insight that served us well," said Edie Jolly, who served with Mr. Hogan on the Arlington Heights village board.
Mr. Hogan was elected in 1987 after being endorsed by then Mayor Jim Ryan, but he served less than one term before his career took him to South Bend, Ind.
However, his role in village government lives on in a time capsule buried beneath the village's clock tower, along with all of the members of the Centennial Commission, which met from 1985 to 1987.
Mr. Hogan served on the Memorial and Fundraising Committee of the commission, along with Arlene Mulder, just elected to her fifth term as village president. At the time, he worked as vice president of investments and assistant branch manager of Prudential Securities in Schaumburg.
"Our job was to raise money for something that was memorable and long lasting, and we decided on the clock tower," Mulder said.
They selected a design by Arlington Heights sculptor Joseph Burlini and then set out to raise the $400,000 needed to develop Clock Tower Plaza, complete with name-plated medallions, which were sold to fund the project.
"Peter helped in designing the different levels of contributions, and in recruiting some of our bigger corporate sponsors," Mulder added.
The plaza just celebrated its 20th anniversary, and has become an iconic symbol for the village.
In 2012 - 25 years after it was dedicated - Arlington Heights officials will dig up the time capsule and showcase the artifacts and names of village leaders from the era.
Mr. Hogan attended St. James school, where his mother was a teacher, and St. Viator, before earning a business degree at Regis College in Denver. He managed assets for Prudential Securities for 18 years, and since 2003 oversaw the Jacksonville and Daytona Beach branch operations of Wachovia Securities and A.G. Edwards & Sons.
Mr. Hogan is survived by his wife of 28 years, Deborah Hogan of Atlantic Beach; a son, Kevin of Phoenix, a daughter, Siobhan Marie Hogan of Dublin, Ireland; and two brothers, Joseph Hogan of Phoenix and Edward Hogan of Laguna Niguel, Calif.
A funeral service will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. James Church, 820 N. Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights.