Philip Hablutzel, ’67, 1935-2026
Philip Norman Hablutzel
Philip Norman Hablutzel was born in Flagstaff, Arizona, on August 23, 1935, and died peacefully in Durham, North Carolina on January 6, 2026, holding the hand of his beloved wife Nancy (née Zimmerman). Between those dates he became an internationally-recognized expert in international finance; co-drafted model and Illinois laws; and helped to found the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and a graduate program in financial services law at the Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Phil received a commission upon high school graduation from Kemper Military School in Boone, Missouri, but a congenital heart condition prevented him from serving. He received a bachelor’s degree in Physics (under Arts & Sciences) from Louisiana State University, serving as President of the College of Physics and Chemistry in 1956. He also was President of his fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta, and of the honor societies Alpha Phi Omega (service) and Tau Kappa Alpha (public speaking). Phil was on the Interfraternity Council, serving as Secretary; a member of Phi Eta Sigma, recognizing freshmen for outstanding scholastic achievement; the Student Senate and Student Honor Council; the University Debate Squad; and other organizations. Additional honors included Omicron Delta Kappa, the men’s national leadership honor society, for multiple years including as President of the LSU Chapter, and he was invited twice to Who’s Who in American College and University Students. Phil became a Golden Tiger in 2008.
After studying both Philosophy and Law at the University of Heidelberg (learning fluent German in the process) he returned to the United States and received a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Chicago. He then moved to the law school where he was part of their storied Class of 1967, classmate of John Ashcroft; William J. Bowe, general counsel of Encyclopedia Britannica; Lester Munson, well-known sports analyst and commentator; Sir Geoffrey Palmer, former prime minister of New Zealand; and Roberta Ramo, the first female president of the American Bar Association; among others. In his final year, Phil was President of the still-new Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Association, representing the students who participated in the University of Chicago Law School’s Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic – where he learned that he did not like criminal law.
After graduating Phil worked at the American Bar Foundation for four years before finding his true calling as a law professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, part of the Illinois Institute of Technology. He was known for teaching some of the most difficult courses, including Banking Law, Business Torts, Commercial Law, Corporations (later called Business Organizations), International Capital Markets, International Commercial Arbitration, Money Laundering, Not-for-Profit Law, School Law, Securities Regulation, and Trust Law. Some of these he adapted when he founded the Graduate Program in Financial Services Law, serving as its Director from 1985-1996 and overseeing a team of adjunct professors in a course covering the different insolvency/bankruptcy regimes for banks, insurance companies, pension funds, brokerage firms, etc. For over thirty-five years, he was the faculty sponsor for Chicago-Kent’s Annual Conference on Not-For-Profit Organizations, frequently presenting a lecture or workshop during the conference.
Phil also served as Director of the Institute of Illinois Business Law, the successor to the Illinois Secretary of State's Corporation Acts Advisory Committee, beginning in 2006 when it moved to Chicago-Kent, and was its Chair 2016-2018. He had previously served as Reporter (1986 – 1989) and Member (1989 - July 2005) of the Advisory Committee. Occasionally he indulged his love of the classics with seminars on Ancient Greek Law, Medieval English Legal History, Roman Law, and Kant. Phil retired from full-time teaching to emeritus status in 2016.
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