Wesley H. Loomis III

http://www.anbhf.org/laureates/wloomis.php

Wesley H. Loomis III, 87, a former publisher of telephone directories and a former president of the board of what is now Travelers and Immigrants Aid of Chicago, died Friday, April 20, 2001 in Sarasota, Fla.

A native of Kansas City, Mo., Mr. Loomis was president of Loomis Advertising Co. in 1955, when it merged its yellow pages business into General Telephone Electronics Co.

He moved his family to the North Shore and became president of GTE Directories until he retired in 1978.

In the late 1960s Mr. Loomis pioneered the company's entry into the directory-publishing market in the Far East and Pacific Rim countries.

Mr. Loomis was a longtime member of the board of Travelers Aid and was board president in 1960 and 1961. He also was chairman of Travelers Aid International from 1973 to 1977.

Mr. Loomis graduated with honors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1935 and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was the youngest colonel on the staff of Army Gen. George Patton.

Mr. Loomis also was decorated as an "Honorary Member of the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire."

His son said he was awarded the honor for his work in upgrading England's system for supplying replacement parts and equipment used in the war effort.