James P. Liautaud
| Jim Liautaud | |
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James P. Liautaud with his son, Jimmy John's owner Jimmy John Liautaud.
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| Born |
James P. Liautaud October 19, 1936 Chicago |
| Died | October 23, 2015 (aged 79) Family cabin in the North Woods of Wisconsin |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign (BSIE), Chicago School of Professional Psychology (hPsy.D, Business Psychology) |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur Founder of The Liautaud Institute Clinical Professor University of Illinois at Chicago |
| Website | www |
Jim Liautaud (October 19, 1936 - October 23, 2015) was an industrialist, inventor and business theorist.
Liautaud grew up in Chicago and served in the US army in Korea. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1963 in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign.
He began his business career as a door-to-door salesman selling books for the Grolier Encyclopedia company. He founded a company while still in college; negotiating with Time Life to sell their magazines on campus, and ended up hiring 150 salespeople.
During the late 1960s Liautaud became a pioneer of a new technology called composite molding. He became the president and co-owner of the Capsonic Group in 1968, which manufactured plastics and electronics in Elgin, Illinois. Being African American, Liautaud was one of the top minority executives in Chicago at the time. He launched other companies in Elgin over the years, including American Antenna Company, which made the equipment for the citizens’ band radio industry, and K40 Electronics, which built a radar detector designed to allow drivers to detect when their speed was being monitored by police.
In 1983 Liautaud gave his son James John Liautaud (Jimmy John) the seed money to start his own business, which grew into Jimmy John’s sandwich stores. He is the founder of Gabriel, Inc. He also was the founding Investor in two insurance companies, Raffles and National Interstate; and Blue Rhino, a gas distribution company. The latter two are now public companies. In all, Liautaud started and ran five companies before reaching his mid-50s.
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