In Memoriam

John G. Ogilvie

Obituary

The New York Times

August 23, 2020

John G. Ogilvie died peacefully on August 4, 2020 after a long illness. He is survived by his devoted wife Silvia and loving family members and friends around the world. John graduated from Choate and Yale and obtained an MBA at Harvard. He worked for Morgan Guaranty Trust for many years. A memorial service will be held and announced at a future date when circumstances allow it.

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Essay from 50th Reunion Class Book

by John Ogilvie

I went from Yale to Harvard Business School, where I got an MBA in 1966. I then spent two years in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil working for USAID and thus avoiding Vietnam. I met Silvia Tortorelli there, and six months later we were married. This was the best decision I ever made. We celebrate 47 years of marriage later this year, and I'm hoping for another 47. Still no kids.

On return to the States in 1968, I joined Morgan Trust Company, later known as JPMorgan and today part of JPMorgan Chase. I worked 11 years in NYC and then went to Buenos Aires for four years to head Morgan's newly opened branch. It was a bumpy ride, running a business in Argentina, but lots of fun, and we did well. We then spent two years in Santiago, Chile, where I did my best to turn around a failed joint venture bank that Morgan managed for a Chilean partner. My first task on arriving there was to visit our partner in jail. We had great fun in Chile and go back often to visit our Chilean family and friends. But the job was challenging. I lasted another three years with Morgan after returning to NYC in 1985. But by 1988 we were mutually fed up with each other. So I left to work for a group of private investors interested in bank stocks. Along the way other private investors approached me to manage their equity investments, and over time this is what I ended up doing. The equity markets were generally good from 1990 to 2007 and, despite some bumps, my investors and I all did well. I slowly retired from 2008 to 2010.

Today Silvia and I divide our time between an apartment in NYC, an old farm in Egremont, MA, an apartment in Buenos Aires, and a lakeside home outside San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina. Roughly half the year in each country. Additionally, we have a defunct sheep ranch about two hours by car from our home in Patagonia. It's a beautiful property with a good trout stream. We don't know where we'll eventually end up, but suspect it will be NYC.

I have had a wonderful life and, although mistakes have inevitably been made along the way, have very few regrets. If I've learned any "lessons," it's that life is short and it pays to focus on what's important. I am sad about what's going on in the States these days and not optimistic about the future. We're heading towards a nanny society. Individual responsibility is a forgotten term, and all we talk about is our "rights" to entitlements which it's the government's responsibility to provide without limit. This is not how we got to be what we are and is not a good recipe for advancing in the future. I'll leave it at that.