Purcell remembered for work ethic, standards
Baird Chairman Paul Purcell, who served the Milwaukee community during his tenure at the investment firm, died Friday, the company announced. He was 73.
“It is with heavy hearts we confirm the sad news that Baird Chairman Paul Purcell passed away today following a valiant fight with cancer,” the company said Friday on its Twitter account.
“It’s hard to describe how much Paul has meant to each of us, to our firm, our clients and the community. He will be deeply missed,” Baird President and CEO Steve Booth said in a statement.
Purcell joined Baird in 1994, became president and chief operating officer in 1998 and president and chief executive officer in 2000. He added the title of chairman in 2006. He served as chairman, president and CEO until 2014. He was chairman and CEO in 2014-15. Purcell “was an extraordinary combination of brilliance and of warmth,” Booth said.
“I’ve seen people on both sides of that scale and he had both, and that’s what made him really so exceptional,” Booth said. “Whatever he was doing at the time, he poured his heart and soul into that. You would feel it.”
Booth said Purcell was known for two things: his nonstop work ethic and his high standards.
He was known to call employees at all hours of the day and night. Booth recalled an example of Purcell’s work ethic during their visit to Hilliard Lyons offices after Baird acquired the firm in April 2019.
“I’m not sure, but I think Paul’s cancer had started because he would complain about not having as much energy as he once had. But we would start at 7 in the morning and end at 9 at night,” Booth said “Everywhere we went they would have to pull him out of the meeting, or the discussion, to get him to the next place because he loved it. He absolutely loved it.”
Purcell’s hard work extended beyond Baird. Purcell served on various boards in Milwaukee, including Teach for America-Milwaukee, Alverno College,
the Greater Milwaukee Committee, United Way of Greater Milwaukee, United Performing Arts Fund and Discovery World.
In 2001, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote a story about Purcell in which he gave his reason for working so hard.
“You only get one run around the track,” Purcell said. “Nike said it best: Just Do It.”
He also had established a company rule that he called the “no a--hole” rule.
“Soon after he was (named) COO (he) declared the ‘no a--hole’ rule, and that is very much alive at Baird today,” Booth said. “And this was a somewhat shocking statement at the time and still kind of a salty term.”
The rule was even mentioned by Fortune when the magazine named Baird No. 13 in their top 100 companies to work for.
Outside work, Purcell was passionate about spending time with his family. During his nearly 30-year career in Milwaukee, he lived in Chicago with his family where his brother and wife’s family lived. He would make it home to Chicago just about every night. No matter how late he was at work.
Purcell was diagnosed with cancer in 2019. He was treated at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston before being moved to hospice care in Florida.