Pritzker, Jay

Pritzker, Jay (Arthur)

(1922– ) entrepreneur, conglomerate organizer; born in Chicago (son of Abram Nicholas Pritzker). Trained as a lawyer, he early diversified the Chicago-based family business, the Marmon Group, into lumber, and with his engineer brother, Robert Pritzker (1926– ), he built a portfolio of 60 diversified industrial corporations. He created the Hyatt Hotel chain (1957) with his brother Donald Pritzker (1932–72) and owned Braniff Airlines (1983–88). In 1979 he established the Pritzker Prize, a $100,000 prize awarded annually to living architects for their career work.