Fred Arditti, a one-time chief economist at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and a professor of finance at DePaul University, had a unique appetite for knowledge, said longtime friend Phupinder Gill.
Mr. Arditti also had a unique appetite.
“One of his favorite things in life was the pursuit of the perfect dessert,” said Gill, the president of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Clearing House, who befriended Mr. Arditti in 1997. “It was not uncommon to see him at the Cheesecake Factory order five or six desserts and take one bite out of each of them.
“You would ask why he ordered all those desserts for just one bite, and he’d answer, `I’m in search of the perfect carrot cake.’ But, you’d say, `None of those [desserts] are carrot cake,’ and he’d respond, `Yeah. But I might change my mind.'”
Mr. Arditti, 66, died of pancreatic cancer Sunday at his Chicago home.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., he studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and a doctorate in economics.
After working in the private sector, Mr. Arditti in 1980 joined the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as its chief economist.
He held that position until 1982, pioneering futures contracts that helped transform how businesses and individuals manage risk. Most notable was Mr. Arditti’s work with the exchange’s Eurodollar, the world’s most actively traded futures contract, Gill said.
Mr. Arditti went on to a career in education that included stints at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Florida before he joined DePaul’s faculty in 1990.
In 1997, he returned to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to assume a leadership role in several areas, including its electronic trading business, which now accounts for about 75 percent of the exchange’s trade. He retired in March 2000 as senior executive vice president.
Mr. Arditti also wrote a book, “Derivatives: A Comprehensive Resource for Futures, Interest Rate Swaps and Mortgage Securities,” that is used in college classrooms. He also continued his own education, said Gill, enrolling in a computer class at DePaul at the age of 62.
“He just wanted to brush up on C++,” Gill said. “For relaxation, he would write computer code. He was one of the most driven individuals I’ve ever met in my life. Anyone who knew him, knew that he was intensely curious. He documented everything. When he was researching something, he would find the closest blackboard and just write and write and write.”
In 2004, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange instituted the Fred Arditti Innovation Award in Mr. Arditti’s honor.
“He was one of those Nobel Prize guys that never quite [won the award], largely because he never tried to,” Gill said. “He was brilliant, very warm and just a wonderfully caring person. The world lost a great one.”
Survivors include Mr. Arditti’s mother, Mary Arditti; two daughters, Elizabeth and Annie; a son, David; and two sisters, Lee and Terry.
A private funeral service will be held this week in Miami, while a memorial service will be held in Mr. Arditti’s honor at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in late November or early December, Gill said.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Vickie Maurer Nursing Excellence Award at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Department of Oncology, 675 N. St. Claire St., Chicago Il. 60611.
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dwischnowsky@tribune.com
