James Challenger, who founded Chicago firm that helped workers find their footing after layoffs, has died at 93

When the American job market experienced some of the first waves of postwar downsizing in the 1960s, James Challenger recognized opportunity and a way to help.

“He saw that companies would pay search firms to go find people for jobs,” said his son John Challenger. “He thought that they would pay to help the people, if they were let go, make their way forward. He’d go to companies and say, ‘This is the way to treat your people.’ ”

In 1966, Mr. Challenger co-founded one of the first outplacement firms, Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The business, which assists with job searches, career transitions and executive coaching, helped people figure out how to reinvent themselves after being laid off or redeployed.

Mr. Challenger died Aug. 30 at his Winnetka home, according to his son. He was 93.

He monitored hiring forecasts and teenagers’ job outlook. He also tracked lighter subjects, like how pop culture and special events affect the workplace. And he was often interviewed about things like the effect on productivity of, say, “Cyber Monday” or “March Madness” or a “Star Wars” movie opening.

His firm, with headquarters at 150 S. Wacker Dr. and offices in 27 U.S. cities, grew to have 300 employees and clients that have included McDonald’s, Motorola and Sears.

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He grew up in Park Ridge, the son of Ida Mae, who as a child came to the United States from Norway, and a physician-father, Dr. Chester Challenger. Young James loved going to Cubs games and collecting baseball cards, a hobby that endured his whole life. After graduating from the old Maine Township High School, he enlisted in the Army, serving stateside during World War II.

His son said he studied economics at Harvard University, graduating in 1947, then got a law degree from Northwestern University in 1951.

“Before opening the company, he went to New York to try and start an ad agency,” John Challenger said. “He worked for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. He worked in real estate for a while for Arthur Rubloff. He also worked for John MacArthur at Bankers Life and Casualty. He also was running a manufacturing company in Indiana.”

That breadth of experience helped him understand diverse business needs. He recognized early on that the era of lifelong employment was ending but thought mandatory, age-based retirement was wrong. His son said he preached that older workers were a good fit for many jobs.

Mr. Challenger took pride in drafting dynamic resumes. “People who lost their job, he would tell them to write about their experiences,” his son said. “He would take what they had written and write resumes on an IBM Selectric. He would cut them into ribbons and assemble them.”

Mark Tebbe credited Mr. Challenger with helping him do right by workers after a slowdown hit Lante, his technology consulting firm, in the early 1990s. For the business to survive, he said he had to lay off six of 32 workers. Mr. Challenger coached him, said Tebbe, who teaches entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago. “I was able to make phone calls and place these people,” he said. “They went on to great things.”

For decades, Mr. Challenger’s firm has offered two days of free advice by phone to job-seekers between Christmas and New Year’s Day — “our way of giving something back,” he once said.

John Challenger took over as chief executive officer in 1998. Mr. Challenger retained the title of chairman of the board until he died.

He met his future wife Ruth “Timmey” Gordon Rozier when both were involved in the 1952 presidential campaign of Adlai Stevenson.

They enjoyed throwing a big party every year on the 12th night of Christmas, featuring Mr. Challenger’s powerful punch, a 12-foot Christmas tree, music by a banjo band and a rented, stagecoach-sized calliope parked in the driveway of their Winnetka home.

A lover of puzzles, word games and trivia, he once arranged to have “Jeopardy” host Alex Trebek as a guest at the party, his son said, and also hosted TV weatherman Willard Scott, Bears coach Mike Ditka and Chicago Tribune movie critic Gene Siskel.

The Challengers enjoyed hunting for vintage advertising memorabilia at the Kane County Flea Market and the flea markets in Brimfield, Massachusetts. They also liked searching for Toby jugs and antique tobacco and biscuit tins at Portobello Road market in London.

He had about 300 pounds of canine companionship in the form of his two Newfoundlands, Moo and Pru.

Mr. Challenger’s wife died in 2008. In addition to his son John, he is survived by his daughter Ann, sons Jim, Mark and Tom and 23 grandchildren. A memorial service is planned for 4 p.m. Sept. 23 at Christ Church Winnetka.