Clement Eibl spent more than 30 years at Arthur Andersen, staying on after the venerable accounting firm’s 2002 collapse to oversee estate issues and an ongoing conference center business.
Mr. Eibl, 55, died Tuesday, Oct. 16, after suffering a heart attack in his St. Charles home, said his daughter, Kathleen Steele.
Andersen’s chief financial officer from 1998 to 2000, Mr. Eibl provided humor for a staff rocked by federal charges of wrongdoing that led to the company’s downfall in 2002, said Pete Nolan, a vice president of finance with Andersen.
“He was a very professional and ethical individual,” said Nolan, a 22-year Andersen employee. “He helped me and a lot of others get through [Andersen’s collapse]. He clearly had a way with helping people put things in perspective.”
Andersen went from 28,000 U.S. employees to its current staff of about 170, Nolan said.
Having committed his entire career to Andersen, Mr. Eibl remained with the firm after 2002 as vice president of administration “to make sure the place was in good working order when the lights were turned out,” Nolan said.
Mr. Eibl grew up in Milwaukee and majored in accounting at Marquette University before starting with Andersen as an auditor in the Milwaukee office in 1974, his daughter said. He made stops at offices in Baltimore and Charlotte before coming to Chicago in 1991.
Though Nolan remembered Mr. Eibl’s sense of humor during Andersen’s collapse, there was no question the situation troubled him deeply, Steele said.
“He was very sad. It was almost another family member for him,” his daughter said.
Mr. Eibl was divorced from his first wife, Marie, who survives him. He also is survived by his wife, Karen Sutton; two sons, Christopher and Patrick; two brothers, John and Joseph; and a sister, Mary Bowser.
Visitation will be at 10 a.m., with services at 11 a.m., Monday in St. Mary’s Church, 225 S. Hartwell Ave., Waukesha, Wis.
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Ttjensen@tribune.com
