Gerald M. Thorne

Gerald Mortenson Thorne passed away on January 23, 2025, despite feeling “100%.” Friends knew him as Jerry.

Jerry was born on May 12, 1938 in Antigo, Wisconsin to Richard and Evelyn Thorne. Like his father, Jerry had a large presence in any room and the confidence to think creatively. Like his mother, Jerry helped others recognize their own talents - and cheered them on. Like both parents, Jerry was a “doer.” He ran the family store while his parents ate supper. He advanced from paperboy to manager of the paperboys. His fireworks resale business arose from discreet purchases on a family road trip. “As a kid,” he recalled, “I always had an angle with mowing lawns and picking potatoes or whatever.”

In 1956, Jerry began college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; then joined his older brother Dick, a little all-American football player, at Northland College in Ashland; and later returned to Madison to study finance, accounting, and Norrita Oelhafen.

Norrita was “Beauty of the Day” in the Daily Cardinal and caught his eye at the cafeteria where they both worked. Jerry was the checker until one day he thought it would be fun to tell students that a lucky ticket would win a Rose Bowl trip. Many meals were sold that day, but no one would leave their seats until the winner was announced and that was the end of his work in the food industry.

In between college years, Jerry served in the U.S. Army, where his playfulness got the best of him. At Fort Lewis, he urged his fellow servicemen to wear the wrong caps several days in a row as, he said, a subtle protest of the “unwilling led by the unqualified to do the unnecessary.” His pranks were picked up by the press, which led to extra experience peeling potatoes. Yet, his military service reinforced his sense of self-discipline, organization, hard work, and independence.

And he couldn’t forget Norrita back in Wisconsin, who said he needed to “get his act together.”

He did. They married in 1962, settled in Evanston, Illinois, and had two children, Jeffrey and Michele. Jerry worked at the Federal Reserve and Harris Trust, and Norrita was a substitute teacher. Their apartment, furnished from the Salvation Army, was so close to the Central Street train, that the oncoming rattle reminded them to step out the door to board.

In a few years, they moved back to Madison, where Norrita taught school and Jerry worked at First Wisconsin National Bank while earning an MBA from UW-Madison. When Jerry managed the bank’s East Towne branch out of a trailer, he attracted about 85% of the new mall’s tenants by obtaining their names from contractors and through “brute salesmanship,” earning him Madison’s Salesman of the Year award, an unusual honor for a banker.

In 1973, they settled in Sheboygan, where Jerry enjoyed a meteoric rise from vice president to chairman of Security First National Bank. The New Republic called him a “Maverick Moneylender,” a moniker he embraced, and in 1984 he was named Wisconsin Small Business Banker Advocate of the Year.  Under his leadership, Security First - known as the bank that built Sheboygan - was sixth in the nation in SBA lending and a top bank for other government-guaranteed loans. Jerry always credited staff, their focus on customers, and their lending expertise, and noted that the bank’s excellence was there before he arrived. “The bank that invests in business and makes the most loans is going to be the best in economic development, which translates into jobs,” he said.

In 1985, First Wisconsin acquired Security First, paying 66% over book, a record premium, and it hired Jerry as a regional president of ten banks. In 1991, the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce honored him with a Community Salute, and that same year, Jerry was promoted to president of First Wisconsin Milwaukee, the largest bank in the state.

In 1992, Norrita persuaded him to join her in early retirement, leaving his financial ivory tower. “I’m a positive person who likes to say yes to people,” he said. “I’ve missed the people part of the business, and the vicarious pleasure from watching small companies grow and succeed.”

Jerry served on many corporate boards, including American Orthodontics, Kaytee, Schreier Malting, and Vinyl Plastics. Wisconsin governors appointed him to various state working groups, including the Wisconsin Development Finance Board. For many years he was a trustee of PIMCO mutual funds, which became Allianz.

Most of all, Jerry enjoyed spending time with Norrita; their children, Jeffrey Thorne (Leigh) and Michele Thorne (Adam Augustynski); and grandchildren, Alexander Augustynski, Victor Thorne, and Isabella Augustynski. Together, they traveled the world, enjoyed their friends in Wisconsin and Georgia, and walked for miles every morning with their Westies. If he were reincarnated, Jerry liked to joke, he’d want to come back as Norrita’s dog.

Jerry and Norrita have extended their generosity through fundraising, donations, scholarships, and gifts, in order to show their appreciation for the communities, organizations, family, and friends who have been so kind to them. A celebration of Jerry Thorne’s life is being planned for summer of 2025.