Jay Pritzker, Hyatt Founder, Dies at 76

CHICAGO —  Jay Pritzker, founder of the Hyatt hotel chain and one of the richest people in America, died Saturday of a heart attack. He was 76.

Pritzker created Hyatt Corp. with a single hotel and turned it into one of the world’s largest hotel chains with more than 200 hotels and resorts worldwide.

His financial interests were widespread. Along with his brother Robert, he created a holding company called the Marmon Group Inc., which over the years had interests in Braniff Airlines, McCall’s magazine and casinos.

His fortune, according to Forbes magazine, was about $5 billion last year and put him at No. 20 on the list of the nation’s haves.

Pritzker and his brother were known for their philanthropy. Over the years, much of their giving was in Chicago, where the family is based. A wing of the Art Institute of Chicago has the Pritzker name on it, as does the School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. The $100,000 Pritzker Prize, created in 1979 and awarded annually, is widely considered the most prestigious award in architecture. They donated $70 million to various causes in 1996, according to Fortune magazine. Pritzker was born in Chicago in 1922 to Fanny Doppelt and A.N. Pritzker, a Harvard-trained lawyer who made millions of dollars in business. His penniless grandfather arrived in Chicago in 1881 from a Jewish ghetto near Kiev, Russia.

Pritzker graduated from Northwestern University and became a naval aviator during World War II. He later earned his law degree from Northwestern University.