The IBMA Foundation is proud to announce the creation of the Bill Breen Bluegrass Youth Education Fund. Initially financed with a generous donation in memory of William (Bill) Breen of Chicago, Illinois by friend and colleague, Susie Stephenson, the fund will be an option for donors who want to help young people experience and learn to play bluegrass music. Instead of funding a specific scholarship or grant, the Breen Fund will be used by the IBMA Foundation where needed most, in a variety of ways that benefit individuals age 21 and younger.
Breen funds could help support Bluegrass in the Schools Mini-grants (live, educational presentations for students by bluegrass bands), project grants and Arnold Shultz Fund grants, any of the seven IBMA Foundation-hosted college scholarships, the Fletcher Bright Memorial Grant for Young Musicians, Terry Baucom Bluegrass Education Funds, or a future project or program—as long as the need fits the “bluegrass youth education” criteria. A portion of the initial donation is being used to create an endowment fund at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to help youth for decades to come.
Bill passed away November 30, 2024 after a short illness with his son and dear friend and longtime editor, Stephenson, at his side, while listening to a recording by the Special Consensus. Born in 1937 in Elgin, Illinois, Bill graduated from DeKalb High School (DeKalb, IL), excelling in track, football, and mathematics. He graduated from Ripon College in 1959, where he continued to excel in math, and he developed a talent for economics. Following graduation Bill attended the London School of Economics as a Rotary International Fellow, and he earned a PhD In Econometrics from Cornell University in 1965. Bill was Assistant and Associate Professor of Economics at the Krannert School of Business, Purdue University from 1966-1970, and he was an Associate Professor and Professor of Finance at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management from 1971-2002. At Kellogg, Bill served as Chairman of the Finance Department and Head of Doctoral Studies for the Kellogg School.
Perhaps owing to the quips of his students who wondered why someone who professed to understand how to outperform the market wasn’t actually doing this himself, Bill began a parallel career providing consulting to the investment industry and ultimately the provision of discretionary investment services to large corporations, public pensions, and large institutional investment organizations. Turns out he really did know what he was talking about.
In addition to playing the banjo, Bill was an avid sailor and fly fisherman, and he never met a dog he didn’t like. Bill’s wife of 64 years, Mary, died shortly after Bill. He is survived by his son James (Pam), his grandchildren Margaret and William, his step-grandchildren MacKenzie (Kirt) and Audrey (Bennett), his brother Robert (Freda), and his friend and companion Susie. He was proceeded in death by his daughter Erin (John) and his parents (James and Dorothy).
“Bill was a super brilliant guy, but also very, very down to earth,” said colleague Bob Korajczyk, Senior Associate Dean, Faculty, and Research, and Harry G. Guthmann Professor of Finance. “I joined the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 1982 when Bill was the chairman. He served as a mentor to a lot of the junior faculty at that time and inspired a great sense of community and loyalty to the school. In the few years he was chair, four faculty members he onboarded served as senior associate deans at Kellogg—some for multiple terms. One served as interim dean and is now the provost of the university. We were all influenced by his example, and we appreciated what he did for us.
“Bill was a great friend, and our families were friends,” Korajczyk continued. “We both loved going out to hear live music, including a lot of bluegrass. I think he would be super happy and honored to be remembered with an IBMA Foundation bluegrass youth education fund. It was a big part of his and Mary’s lives, and their kids’. His daughter studied mandolin with Jethro Burns for a number of years.”
“When I walked into D30, the Introduction to Finance course at Kellogg, I was already intimidated,” Stephenson recalled. “I hadn’t had a math class since high school. What did I know about money? Finance? How would I ever pass this class? Even if my math background had been stronger, I still would have had no idea at that moment that the man standing at the head of the classroom watching us file in would not only end up teaching me a great deal about finance, but would become a client, a colleague, and a dear friend.
“Nor did I know that more than 30 years later, I would be setting up this fund to honor his legacy,” she continued. “When I look back on this relationship, it showed a willingness on both our parts to be open to other points of view and areas of expertise. It also showed a willingness to learn from each other: I knew my way around the English language much better than he, and he knew much more about finance and bluegrass than did I.
“It all started when I was appalled by a handout Bill distributed in class,” Stephenson said. “The subjects and verbs often didn’t agree. It was short on active verbs. The voice changed. I was an editor by trade so naturally I rewrote it. Instead of flunking me in the course for being so cheeky, Professor Breen, as I knew him then, said, when he returned the edited handout to me at the next class, ‘That reads much better.’ He handed me a pile of material to edit, and the work never stopped coming.
“After Bill’s wife was admitted to a local private memory-care facility due to severe Alzheimer’s, we started hanging out more socially and he took me to hear Greg Cahill and Special Consensus,” Stephenson said. “Although I tend to prefer classical music, I immediately understood the appeal of bluegrass and instantly became a fan of the genre myself. So, when I was trying to determine the most appropriate way to honor Bill, I called Greg who directed me to Nancy Cardwell and IBMA Foundation, and it was a perfect fit.”
“I think he would have really thought it was a great idea,” Bill’s son Jamie Breen said. “As a kid he loved country and bluegrass music, but he was more involved with sports and later, academics. He began playing banjo when he was in his mid to late 30s and just really loved it. He had fun with it and met a lot of nice people, and he continued to love the whole bluegrass community. Also as an educator in the field of economics, I think he would have loved the idea of a fund in his memory to help young people in the area of bluegrass education. It fits right in with his ethics.”
“Bill Breen was a friend of mine and a great guy,” said award-winning banjo player Greg Cahill, the band leader of Special Consensus. “He was a top professor in the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management MBA Program, a co-founder of a couple of Evanston-based investment firms, and a bluegrass banjo player. He would talk more about playing the banjo and bluegrass music he was listening to, or bands he was going out to see, more than anything else. Bill was a wonderful supporter of the musicians as well as the music itself. Once the Special C van broke down and we barely made it into Chicago to play a gig. I told Bill what happened at the concert, and when I went to the repair shop the next morning to pick up the van, Bill had already paid the bill in full. He was the kind of person who would do things like that to help people—even when they didn’t ask.
“Bill Breen loved bluegrass music, and he loved to play the banjo,” Cahill said. “He also had a keen interest in supporting and encouraging young people to learn about the music and even learn to play and sing bluegrass music. He encouraged his late daughter to play bass and mandolin, and they often played music together and attended shows together. Bill wanted the music to keep growing and expanding audience sizes, and that meant encouraging youth involvement. He would be honored to know that a grant support program for youth in bluegrass was being created in his name.”
Photo above: Bill Breen
RETURN to the April 2025 issue of The Cornerstone.
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