May 10, 1915. 



Oliver O. Agler 



At 3:30 on the afternoon of Monday, Ajiril 26, Oliver O. Agler, 

 of the firm of XJpham & Agler, Chicago, jiassed away at his summer 

 home at Geneva, 111., at the age of forty-six years. Mr. Agler had 

 contracted a severe cold some time before his death, and on top of 

 this had done quite a little night traveling, with the result that he 

 was in a rather run-down condition. The critical period of his illness 

 came on quite suddenly. 



The funeral service was held Thursilay morning, a special train 

 being run from Geneva to 

 Chicago, and from there on 

 to Rosehill cemetery, where 

 the body was placed in a vault 

 pending Mrs. Agler 's decision 

 regarding ultimate disposition 

 of the remains. 



Mr. Agler leaves a widow 

 and one daughter, Katherine, 

 eighteen years old. 



The death of Oliver Agler 

 removes another of the ster- 

 ling and most generally ad- 

 mired, and genuinely loved 

 members of the hardwood 

 trade. He was not given to 

 the assumption of a pre- 

 dominating place in hardwood 

 circles to which he was en- 

 titled, but the forcefulness of 

 his character and his clear 

 sightedness made it inevitable 

 that he should always take a 

 place among the leaders. 



Mr. Agler was a man with- 

 out pretense, whose business 

 policy is best summed up in 

 the statement that what was 

 fair to all sides was agree- 

 able to him. He made a good 

 deal of money in the lumber 

 business, but he made it in a 

 way that conformed to the 

 minutest detail to the insist- 

 ence of a rigidly honest 

 character. 



Mr. Agler was born at 

 Plymouth, Ind., forty -six years 

 ago. His father, Maurice 

 Agler, and his mother, Mary 

 Snyder Agler, (the latter still 

 living) maintained a farm in 

 the vicinity of Plymouth. Mr. 

 Agler lived on the farm and 

 attended the country schools 

 during the beginning of his 

 education. His education here 

 was continued until he was 



fifteen years of age, at which time he attended the Northern Indiana 

 Normal School at Valparaiso, Ind. From here he secured a teacher's 

 certificate and taught school for five years beginning with 1885. 

 Between times he had taken a course in stenography which led to his 

 connection with the offices of the Upham Manufacturing Company, 

 Marshfield, Wis., and this marked the beginning of his career in 

 the lumber business and his advance was rapid through all stages 

 of the organization. 



In 1893 Fred W. Upham, who had been head of the company, 

 decided to remove his operations to Chicago and took Mr. Agler 

 with him, breaking off his connection with the Marshfield business. 



The business was then opened up under the style of Fred W. Upham. 

 Mr. Agler played a prominent part in its building up, and three 

 years later the Fred W. Upham Company was incorporated, Mr. 

 Agler being secretary and treasurer. 



In 1904 this corporation was dissolved and the business continued 

 on a partnership arrangement, Mr. Agler being an equal partner. 

 Prom then on until now it has been going on and growing in all 

 directions, and increasing in importance as a leading hardwood 



institution. The company 

 now owns or controls saw- 

 mills and has extensive as- 

 sembling yards in the North 

 and South. 



Mr. Agler married Miss 

 Hessie E. Steele, of Plym- 

 outh, in 1892, and as stated, 

 they have one daughter. Mr. 

 Agler has confined his life to 

 ilose association with his 

 family, as he has not been 

 \ ery much given to diversified 

 hobbies. In fact, about his 

 only hobby was his automo- 

 biles, he having been for the 

 past few years an enthu- 

 siastic motorist. He was 

 a member of a mmiber of 

 (■rominent clubs of Chicago, 

 liut was not, strictly speaking, 

 a clubman. He was also 

 prominently identified with 

 the National Hardwood Lum- 

 lier Association, having served 

 as its president for two years, 

 and at the time of his death 

 was a director of the National 

 Wholesale Lumber Dealers ' 

 Association as well. He was 

 an individual member of the 

 Chamber of Commerce of the 

 United States. 



A striking tribute to Mr. 

 Agler 's genuineness is the 

 fact that after he had reached 

 a state of affluence he pur- 

 chased a farm and presented 

 it to his parents at Plymouth. 

 To this he has made fre- 

 quent week-end auto trips. 



Mrs. Agler, his mother, was 

 devoted to her son, and justly 

 so, because of the thoughtful 

 attention he had always ac- 

 corded his parents. His 

 father has been dead for 

 several years. 

 Mr. Agler 's death is especially regretted as he was a man coming 

 into the very prime of life and apparently of robust constitution, and 

 gave promise of developing into one of the truly big men in the lum- 

 ber industry. His being taken away now cuts off a career, the devel- 

 opment of which was being watched by his associates wherever 

 located. 



In losing Oliver O. Agler, the limiber trade has lost one of its 

 eminent exponents of fair play in business. It has lost a man of 

 clean vision and clear sighted wisdom, whose counsel was always 

 sought and valued. 



—19— 



THE LATE OLIVER O. OGLER, CHICAGO 



