Robert P. Murtaugh’s stroll into his college’s job-placement center during his sophomore year became a fortuitous one for his career after he spotted an advertisement for a part-time position at a brokerage firm.
He was hired for that job in The Milwaukee Company’s back office, where he learned how to process the trades made each day in the financial markets.
From such knowledge, he molded a highly successful career and business venture.
Mr. Murtaugh, 59, of Chicago and co-founder of GMI Software, died of pneumonia and complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, on Tuesday, Feb. 3, in Miami Beach.
After graduating from Marquette University in 1967 with a degree in business administration, he worked for several years in the back office systems department of the Midwest Stock Exchange, the precursor of the Chicago Stock Exchange. He rose to become a vice president in the department, his brother, Jim, said.
After the exchange closed down that department in the mid-1970s, Mr. Murtaugh joined Computer Information Service (CIS), which was a back-office service firm that maintained the hardware and software used in processing trades.
When that firm was sold in 1983, Mr. Murtaugh decided to strike out on his own with fellow employee Jeff Geldermann, the son of John Geldermann, former chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and co-founder of CIS.
“CIS was primarily a service bureau that did all the work for customers that didn’t have computers,” Jeff Geldermann said. “With GMI, we decided we didn’t want to do the work, but instead developed the software that trading firms licensed from us to do the work on their own computer. Bob and I were a perfect fit and equal partners.”
By the time it was purchased in 1997 by SunGard Data Systems, GMI was the dominant producer of back-office accounting software used by trading firms to reconcile the millions of transactions made every day at the nation’s financial markets. It had offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, and London, along with Chicago and New York City.
After serving for a short time as a vice chairman of SunGard’s GMI division, he retired and traveled throughout the world with his wife, Carole. The couple met on a blind date arranged through mutual friends at a Christmas party in 1975, began a romance the following year and married in 1996.
Mr. Murtaugh’s humility impressed his family.
“He was modest to a fault and never boasted, but sat back quietly and listened to others,” his brother, Jim, said. “He was a selfless and giving person who never talked about his accomplishments.”
Other survivors include his mother, Margaret; another brother, Jack; a niece and nephew.
Visitation will be held 10 a.m., Saturday at Assumption Catholic Church, 323 W. Illinois St., Chicago, followed by a mass at 11 a.m.
