Everyone in his family had heard the stories about how John Jursich had worked for McDonald’s Corp. founder Ray Kroc in the early years of the company.
But it wasn’t until after their father died this month, Mr. Jursich’s children say, that they learned the Deerfield lawyer and former McDonald’s executive also had worked for years to help protect abused women.
That came out when they spoke with the priest who would give his eulogy. He told them their father gave free legal advice to women who were seeking a divorce or trying to separate themselves from an abusive spouse.
Susan Paillassou, Mr. Jursich’s daughter, said he told them, ‘Your dad was always the one we would call to help these women out.’ He did it for decades. Dad never talked about it.”
Mr. Jursich died Aug. 8 of complications from an autoimmune disorder. He was 87.
After leaving McDonald’s in the early 1960s, he worked in private law practice in North Chicago for nearly 30 years, handling a range of legal work, from real estate to divorces.
Mr. Jursich was hired at age 31 by Harry Sonnenborn, McDonald’s first president and CEO, according to “McDonald’s: Beyond the Arches,” a book on the company’s history by author John F. Love. He was tasked with procuring mortgage money as the company that would grow into a fast-food behemoth struggled in its early years, neogiating contracts as part of McDonald’s expansion, according to the book and family members.
A McDonald’s spokesman said of Mr. Jursich: “In the early years of our business, he was a key player in securing loans and funding for new McDonald’s franchisees. He negotiated rates with bankers and stressed the job creation and community investment McDonald’s brings to neighborhoods.”
Amy Jo Malone, another of Mr. Jursich’s daughters, recalled Kroc coming to get him to go look at property the company would buy as it expanded, adding to its roster of franchised restaurants.
“Ray would come to our house,” Malone said. “He would show up in their limo, and they’d go out to look at real estate.”
But the job’s long hours and extensive travel wore on Mr. Jursich, according to his family, especially with his son John Mark being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
“My brother was very sick and he was doing a lot of traveling and really wanted to be home with us,” Paillassou said.
According to Malone, his thinking at the time was: “I’ve got these four kids, I never see them, I kind of resent having them, and he said, I gotta change. And he did.”
Mr. Jursich and his wife Gloria focused on giving their son and his three sisters the most normal, loving life they could. That included trips to the Ozarks, rides on his motorcycle and Polish luaus with the family’s Deerfield neighbors. The Jursich children went to parochial school but later transferred to public schools to have a more varied peer group.
“Our house was the house where all the kids came,” Malone said.
Mr. Jursich took in his son’s friends, gave them advice and, at times, also lectures.
“He was fun to be around, and I know that they were always having parties,” said Adele Gutman, a neighbor. “You could depend on him if you ever needed anything. He was always there. He was there for anybody who was a friend of his.”
When her husband died, Mr. Jursich checked in on her and helped in any way he could, Gutman said.
“He took care of things for local people,” said Dr. Ed Szyman, another neighbor. “I know he helped people in the neighborhood, both them and their kids, with their own problems.”
He spent time inventing products in his garage with friends, including a machine that patted the chest and back of people with cystic fibrosis to try to help their condition.
His son died in 1984 at 24, and the loss was “crushing,” Malone said.
Mr. Jursich and his wife split up after more than 40 years together, but their divorce was really just another phase of their marriage, Malone said. They continued to play bridge online, with Gloria Jursich — who died in 2007 — calling her former husband and letting the phone ring twice as a signal for him to get to the computer.
“They would have lunch and dinner together, they parented us,” Malone said. “It was pretty seamless. It was almost like being married but in different homes.”
Mr. Jursich is also survived by another daughter Jane Marshall, his brother Robert Jursich Sr. and three grandsons.
