Ylvisaker early leader of move of corporate offices to the suburbs

The former chairman of Gould Inc.'s decision about 40 years ago to relocate its corporate headquarters to a 10-story tower in Rolling Meadows changed the landscape of the city and the Northwest suburbs.

William Ylvisaker died Feb. 6 in Wellington, Fla. The former Barrington Hills resident was 85.

Mr. Ylvisaker led Gould Inc. from 1967 to 1986, and helped transform the company from a traditional battery manufacturer into a diversified technology conglomerate, purchasing high-tech companies and relocating them to Rolling Meadows.

"He pushed the development of that whole Golden Triangle area," says Rolling Meadows Mayor Ken Nelson, of the stretch of Golf Road just east of Rt. 53. "At one time, there were as many as 11 corporate headquarters there, and it was developed as a unique, high-end campus headquarters."

Rod Blane served as community development director during the years Mr. Ylvisaker moved Gould from Chicago to Rolling Meadows. He recalls that the office building was built about 1970, around the same time as the Crossroads Center at the southeast corner of the intersection of Algonquin Road and Rte. 53, and that the two were the first high-rises in the suburban bedroom community.

"He built the first tower, and it was the premiere property within the office development," Blane said of what is now known as the Meadows Corporate Center, encompassing two towers and adjacent buildings. "He took control and set the parameters, driving the covenants and restrictions on the land development."

Mr. Ylvisaker, a former athlete at Yale University, designed the corporate headquarters to include the private "Meadow Club," with fitness facilities, pools, indoor and outdoor tennis courts and private dining rooms.

He also surrounded the property with an outdoor path that wove runners around a pond with swans that enhanced the corporate setting, as well as high-end sculpture, including an original Picasso, on the property.

The 30-foot high piece, called "The Bather," was designed by Picasso on paper and sculpted out of black stone and concrete by Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar, in two versions, in 1972.

Its image of a nude woman drew controversy and eventually was moved behind trees on the Gould campus before being sold to a French developer. The smaller, six-foot version stood in Mr. Ylvisaker's Barrington Hills yard until he donated it to Harper College in 1994.

Ylvisaker "was a major player in that whole paradigm shift, when companies found the suburbs were viable and suitable for their corporate headquarters," said Tom Menzel, former Rolling Meadows mayor and now executive director of the Bay Area Transportation Authority in Traverse City, Mich.

"At the time, the perception had been to have some sort of regional or corporate headquarters in the city of Chicago," Menzel adds. "Once he started the move, others followed."

Gould, which at one time employed as many as 1,000 in the region with its many acquisitions, played a role in linking the technology sector to the Northwest suburban corridor, Menzel added.

After Ylvisaker left, parts of the business were scaled back and the remainder was sold to a Japanese company that moved it to Cleveland.

Services were held for Mr. Ylvisaker on Friday in Florida.