`CounterPunch' and ISO's Lannan Foundation Connection--Part 1

“In 1960 J. Patrick Lannan, Sr., entrepreneur and financier, established Lannan Foundation. A self-educated scholar and liberal thinker, he believed strongly in the social importance of charitable programs and in the cultural importance of innovative and controversial forms of visual and literary art…. Mr. Lannan died in 1983 at the age of 78. In 1986 Lannan Foundation received a substantial endowment from his estate. “

--from the Lannan Foundation website

“J. Patrick Lannan, the late Chicago financier, by all accounts would have made Irwin Jacobs and other latter-day corporate raiders look like Boy Scouts….A battle among Lannan`s children, relatives and friends for control of Lannan`s $100 million estate has moved into court here and in Palm Beach, Florida…Lannan…controlled corporate assets estimated at more than $2 billion in the early 1960s. He died in September, 1983, at age 78, leaving his estate, including stocks in numerous companies, to a foundation he created in Palm Beach that collected modern art… Within days of Lannan`s death in New York City, some of Lannan`s six children instructed the Chicago law firm of Mayer Brown & Platt to seek an accounting of the foundation. Not one of Lannan`s children was directly provided for in the estate…Four of Lannan`s children are suing in Cook County Circuit Court for a greater role in the foundation: Michael, vice president of a Chicago insurance firm, Lannan & Co.; J. Patrick Lannan Jr. of Los Angeles, another son who is a director of Federal Signal Corp. in Oak Brook; Sharon L. Ferrill of Evanston, a daughter; and Patricia Mary Lawler of Scottsdale, Ariz., a daughter. Also suing is John R. Lannan, a nephew….One of the bitterest combatants apparently is Harve A. Ferrill, Sharon`s husband, who is a Chicago investor and director of such companies as SFN Companies Inc. of Glenview, Advance Ross Corp. of Chicago and Laidlaw Industries of Hinsdale….”

--the Chicago Tribune (1/30/85)

"J. Patrick Lannan [Sr.]…has…become…an influential investor in enterprises such as International Telephone & Telegraph [ITT], Duquesne Light, and the Milwaukee Road...”

--Fortune magazine in December 1959

“Mr. Lannan was a director of the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation [ITT] for 36 years. He retired as director emeritus last May. He was also a director and member of the executive committee of the Macmillan Publishing Company...In 1962, Mr. Lannan…was chairman of the Susquehanna Corporation, an investment-banking concern in Chicago, and was on the boards or the executive committees of 19 major corporations….He is survived by three daughters, Patricia Lawler and Colleen Dillon, both of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Sharon Ferrill of Evanston, Ill.; three sons, Michael J. and Lawrence P., both of Chicago, and J. Patrick Jr., of Los Angeles; a brother, Lawrence T., of Palm Beach; 29 grandchildren and 10 great- grandchildren.”

--the New York Times (9/27/83)

“…Lannan owned 1 million shares of MacMillan Publishing Company…and another million shares of a public company based in Chicago…Lannan was a senior member of the board of ITT…”

--the Palm Beach Daily News (9/26/83)

“…Lannan…had assets ranging from the Oakland A’s to a majority stake in International Telephone & Telegraph [ITT]…”

--the New York Daily News (10/18/95)

“The Lannan Foundation has always been and continues to be a family-run organization… Patrick took over the reins of the Lannan Foundation in 1985…Patrick Lannan entered banking and then moved on to a Chicago ad agency before being transferred to New York City. From 1967-1972, he managed an answering service and paging business and then became involved in an investment business throughout the seventies. Among his last endeavors prior to succeeding his father as Head of the Lannan Foundation were in commercial radio in Fresno, California, and in Honolulu, Hawaii.

--the Santafe.com website (7/1/09)

“Mr. Ross also announced that J. Patrick Lannan, Jr. is retiring from the board after twenty years of dedicated service to the company…He noted that during Mr. Lannan's tenure Federal Signal grew from a $91 million company to more than $1 billion in annual sales and that the stock price, adjusted for stock dividends and splits, increased from less than $1 to more than $23 per share….”

-- from a 1998 Federal Signal Corporation press release

“…In 1975, 70 percent of all civil defense warning systems sold in the United States were manufactured by Federal's signal division. Sales topped $29 million, providing 40 percent of the company's total volume. Three years later, however, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused Federal of attempting to monopolize the market. Specifically, the FTC alleged that Federal had collaborated with local governments to devise the advertisements soliciting bids and providing job specifications, and that these advertisements were designed to prevent other companies from bidding successfully….

“…Several challenges surfaced in 1986. That summer, union contract negotiations failed at Federal's Chicago-based signal plant, as well as at its Elgin street-sweeping plant. Workers walked out, production at both plants was severely curtailed for several months, and profits rose by only two percent, 11 percent below the company's average growth. In September, Federal replaced all striking workers at its Elgin plant. Although the strikes had a negative short-term impact on profits, management was able to reduce labor costs at both plants by 20 to 25 percent and announced that both production operations would remain profitable due to 'lower, competitive labor costs.'…

“In 1990...Federal…received its largest contract: a $47 million order from the U.S. Air Force to furnish components for its rescue vehicles….”

--from the Corporate history website

“…As a reader-supported independent press, we depend on your solidarity and generosity. Consider making a donation to Haymarket Books today…”

--from the ISO-affiliated Haymarket Books website

“The Institute requires disclosure of any transaction other than our own compensation from which such a person might benefit that they feel should be disclosed…This enables us to determine when a conflict of interest should be disclosed and to whom…”

--from the Institute for the Advancement of Journalistic Clarity/CounterPunch Form 990 financial filing for 2011

CounterPunch and ISO’s Lannan Foundation Connection--Part 1

According to the Form 990 financial filing for 2011 of former Federal Signal Corporation board member J. Patrick Lannan, Jr.’s Lannan Foundation, a $2,000 charitable grant was given in 2011 to the Institute for the Advancement of Journalistic Clarity/CounterPunch alternative media group for the “support of CounterPunch.” In addition, the foundation that ITT’s former majority stockholder and long-time board member—J. Patrick Lannan Sr.—set up before his death in 1983 gave four charitable grants in 2011, totaling $117,000, to the International Socialist Organization [ISO]-affiliated Center for Economic Research and Social Change for “general operating support,” “general support of Haymarket Books” and to “support Tariq Ali speaking tour,” according to its Form 990 financial filing for 2011.

Besides receiving $117,000 in charitable grants from the Lannan Foundation in 2011, according to the Lannan Foundation’s Form 990 financial filing for 2011, the ISO-affiliated Center for Economic Research and Social Change also received from the Lannan Foundation a $200,000 “interest-free loan to provide advance funds for book publishing costs of Haymarket Books” in 2011; with “payments of $50,000 due in four installments between June 30, 2012 and December 31, 2013.” And, if the ISO-affiliated Center for Economic Research and Social Change “raises an additional $50,000 by December 2013, the last $50,000 payment will be forgiven” by the Lannan Foundation. (end of part 1)