THIS OBITUARY WAS QUOTED IN ITS ENTIRETY IN THE ROCKDALE REPORTER. THE NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE WAS DATED FEBRUARY 5, 1980.
[thanks to Louise Sessions, now deceased, related as an in-law]
THIS IS A MEMORIAL WEBSITE. THE OBITUARY REPLICATED ON THIS PAGE IS FROM THE FAMILY'S MEMENTOES.

Article in The New York Times
"Ray Garrett, ex-S.E.C. Chairman"
by Wolfgang Saxon

Ray Garrett Jr., a respected corporate lawyer who was chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the post-Watergate period, died of cancer Sunday at Evanston Hospital, Evanston, Ill. He was 59 years old and a resident of Winnetka, Ill.

Mr. Garrett, a senior partner of the Chicago law firm of Gardner, Carton & Douglas, was chairman of the securities commission from August 1973 to October 1975. A tough regulator with impressive experience and comprehensive knowledge of securities laws, he pushed through a number of measures that were strongly opposed by some segments of the securities industry, including the New York Stock Exchange.

Under his stewardship and after a battle with investment houses, the long-standing practice of fixed commission rates on stock transactions was ended in 1975. Another accomplishment was the creation of an electronic "central marketplace" so that investors could determine who was offering the best price for stocks on different exchanges and over-the-counter.

Mr. Garrett's appointment by President Nixon was considered an effort to restore the commission's reputation in the wake of scandals involving allegations of preferential treatment of individuals and businesses favored by the Nixon Administration.

His predecessor at the securities commission, G. Bradford Cook, had stepped down in May 1973 after conceding that he misled a Congressional subcommittee in connection with an investigation of Robert L. Vesco, a Nixon campaign contributor and financier accused of milking mutual funds of hundreds of millions of dollars. According to a grand jury report in New York, Mr. Cook had yielded to pressure when he modified the commission's complaint against Mr. Vesco.

Mr. Garrett was born Aug. 11, 1920, in Chicago. His father also was a corporate lawyer with a national reputation. The younger Mr. Garrett graduated from Yale College and got his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1949.

During World War II, he saw combat as an artillery captain in the Battle of the Bulge.

He taught at Harvard and was an assistant professor at the New York University School of Law before returning to Chicago in 1952 to Gardner, Carton & Douglas.

Mr. Garrett first joined the S. E. C. in 1954 and served as its director of corporate regulation until returning to the Chicago firm in 1958 as a partner.

He was the author of many articles in his field and was active in professional organizations.

He leaves his wife, Virginia; three daughters, Nancy Worcester, Susan Dunn and Anne Burfield; a son, Richard, and two sisters, Glenn Lindgren and Martha Benson.

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