Mark A. Orloff, 46, a vice president and deputy general counsel at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, died of complications from cardiac arrhythmia Friday, Sept. 7, in Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He had been in a coma since June 28.
While at Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Mr. Orloff, who had worked at some of Chicago’s most prestigious law firms, oversaw a variety of antitrust, intellectual property and general commercial litigation cases.Most recently, he had been helping Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Wisconsin move toward becoming a publicly traded company, while also assisting in developing a program under which subscribers could carry over benefits around the world.
“Mark was creative. He was able to come up with sound but creative ways to help his clients get their objectives achieved,” said Blue Cross and Blue Shield general counsel Roger Wilson. “It’s the complexity that makes it fascinating, and Mark loved it. It was challenging and intellectually stimulating, and he just enjoyed helping clients through that maze.”
Mr. Orloff was born in Buffalo, N.Y., and grew up in Highland Park. He graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 1977, received a master’s in economic science from the London School of Economics in 1981 and earned a law degree from the University of Chicago the next year.
He was hired by Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago in 1981. But he formed his own firm, Levinson & Orloff, with Michael Levinson in 1984. He married Ann Ziegler, a fellow law student at the U. of C., in 1987. And in 1989, he joined Altheimer & Gray.Mr. Orloff had been at Blue Cross and Blue Shield since 1991. He started as a deputy general counsel there and was promoted to vice president in the mid-1990s.
“He would give you 120 percent of his effort and energy, the same zeal and energy and enthusiasm he applied to the tasks at home,” said Blue Cross and Blue Shield Chief executive officer Scott Serota. “He inspired loyalty and confidence.”
Beginning in 1992, he also served on the board of directors for Minerva Software Inc., a privately held software development company sold to Microsoft in 1998. Since then, he also had served on the board of directors for PIF Funds.
At home, he taught his young daughters to play chess and studied to stay one step ahead of his eldest daughter in her Hebrew lessons.
Besides his wife, Mr. Orloff is survived by two daughters, Emma and Reba; his parents, Daniel and Hilde; a sister, Leah; and three brothers, David, Jere and Tobias. Another brother, Joel, died in the 1970s.
A funeral service was held Monday in Chicago.
