Longtime Wirtz executive, Olympia Fields resident, dies
By Mike Nolan mnolan@southtownstar.com May 30, 2012 10:10PM
Max Mohler. | Supplied Photo.
Updated: July 6, 2012 9:12AM
It was while he was working for one Arthur that Max Mohler was offered a job by another Arthur.
Working for the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, Mohler got to know Arthur Wirtz, one of Andersen’s clients, who was impressed with Mohler’s financial acumen and suggested he come to work for the Wirtz family. Mohler went on to become chief financial officer and later a senior vice president of Wirtz Corp., whose holdings include the Chicago Blackhawks, liquor distribution firms and insurance and real estate interests.
An Olympia Fields resident, Mr. Mohler died Wednesday at his home after battling cancer. He was 73.
Mr. Mohler’s father was an engineer with the Penn Central Railroad and his mother was the first female bank officer in Indiana, working for Merchants Bank in Indianapolis, Mr. Mohler’s son James said Wednesday.
Mr. Mohler was in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at Indiana University, where he earned a master’s degree in accounting. After college, he served in the Army from 1961 through 1964, where he taught accounting and co-authored an accounting manual, his son said. Mr. Mohler remained in the reserves until 1968, when he was discharged with the rank of captain, his son said.
He was hired by Arthur Wirtz in 1975, initially overseeing the financial operations of the family-owned company’s ice shows and real estate holdings, Rocky Wirtz, president of Wirtz Corp., said.
“He’d come in the morning, stay late and would take his work home with him,” Wirtz said of Mr. Mohler.
In a memo to Wirtz Corp. employees informing them of Mr. Mohler’s death, Rocky Wirtz described him as a “trusted confidant and friend to generations of our family.”
James Mohler said his father thoroughly enjoyed what he did and that, despite his illness, he “worked, literally, up to the very end.”
He was an avid fisherman and an eclectic collector, assembling collections of items including coins, stamps, animal ornaments and teddy bears, his son said.
“He was an only child, and he had the collection bug from when he was a kid,” James Mohler said.
In addition to his son, Mr. Mohler is survived by Joan, his wife of 34 years, as well as another son, William, and two daughters, Barbra and Debra.
Visitation for Mr. Mohler will take place from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday at Heartland Memorial Center, 7151 W. 183rd St., Tinley Park. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, 6201 Vollmer Road, Matteson.
In lieu of flowers, Mr. Mohler’s family is asking that contributions be made to Children’s Memorial Hospital or St. Paul’s.
