Guy N. Maras
The Union League Club of Chicago has 135 years of history. Its president, Guy N. Maras, knows every bit of it.
“How much time do you have?” he asked this reporter, who responded that he had as many hours as needed.
“Oh good,” Maras said, and the tour began.
“In 1862, a group of citizens from Pekin, Illinois, form what was called the Union Leagues of America,” he began, rolling through the club’s history that started out as a means to support Abraham Lincoln and the Union.
As Maras speaks, his knowledge of and pride for the club are on display. He first sought out the organization, located at 65 W. Jackson Blvd., in 1992 as a 28-year-old law student at The John Marshall Law School in search of a place to exercise.
One of the first members he met was Ben DeBerry, 17 years Maras’ senior and a club member since 1983.
“Very thoughtful,” DeBerry said about his first impression of the young Maras. “Very purposeful. Very interested in making a contribution to the Union League Club.”
Maras ultimately chose the club for two reasons. He believed in its motto, “Commitment to community and country.” And he appreciated that the club was open to people like him of limited means trying to establish themselves.
“If you were a young up-and-comer who just came to Chicago and was getting started in business, you were welcome here,” he said. “It wasn’t only people from established families.”
Maras is established now.
He is a partner at Hennessy & Roach P.C., where he defends businesses in workers’ compensation cases.
Maras, 50, is an energetic man whose broad shoulders and barrel chest give shape to his navy pinstripe suit, complete with a white pocket square. His athletic physique — one of his mentees calls him a “workout warrior” — belies his cheerful manner.
The married father of four daughters offers a strong handshake — no surprise for a former track-and-field athlete who threw the hammer during his undergraduate years at Marquette University — while his white shirt is crisp and bright with sleeves monogrammed “GNM.”
He wears German shepherd cufflinks and a Marquette class ring, gifts from his wife. His black wingtips echo against the floor as he walks. His red tie pops with blue stripes — his love of country reflected in his color scheme.
Since June, he has served as the 124th president in the history of the club, an institution that now has 2,000 members.
Among his initiatives as president is the $2.75 million renovation of the Rendezvous, the club’s fourth-floor bar. The room’s entrances are currently covered with plastic — outside the door are sketches of the finished space, which is set to be completed May 1.
“It’s gonna look great,” he said, admiring it like a proud parent.
When active, the room is a hub for dining and socializing. It’s one of the club’s signature spaces, as is the Wigwam Room, where member Henry Johnson first met Maras late last year.
Johnson and his wife were interested in joining a social club. They came to the Union League Club as guests of DeBerry.
“I asked several members to join me in the evening for cocktails and dinner to encourage a measure of camaraderie,” DeBerry said. “Guy exceeded all expectations.”
DeBerry remembers Maras extending every hospitality to the Johnsons despite his own busy schedule, which that day included overseeing two other events at the club along with his usual workload at Hennessy & Roach and his family responsibilities.
“He’s a very engaging man,” Johnson said later. “You know those people who you can say, ‘They never met a stranger’? That’s the kind of guy he is. After you’ve been around him for 10 or 15 minutes, you feel like you’ve known him for a long time.”
Maras made such an impression on Johnson that when this reporter called to speak with him for this article, he initially said he didn’t have time to talk.
Then he paused and said, “For Guy, I do.”
Maras has time for everybody. During the interview, he takes a phone call from a member about club business, speaks with a club employee who wanted to make sure he saw the birthday gift she got him and coordinates with David Kohn, the club’s executive director of public affairs.
The club has 15 committees, including one for public affairs as well as art, membership, admissions, finances, communications, technology and Maras’ former committee, analysis and planning. As president, he coordinates with the directors of each, spending two hours reading monthly reports on them.
Meanwhile, the board of directors meets on the last Tuesday of every month; the Wednesday before that, the officers meet for two hours to discuss the board’s agenda.
Maras enjoys the job because it gives him an opportunity to take a greater role in the club’s stewardship, but it also plays a big role in his personal life. He proposed to his wife there. His children have grown up there.
When his first daughter began learning violin, he gained tips on training her from renowned violinist and club member Rachel Barton Pine. When his second daughter expressed an interest in one day becoming a patent lawyer, Maras organized a lunch with four female patent lawyers who are all club members.
“It creates so many opportunities for people … to advance their avocations (and) to give back to the community,” he said. “If I simply went to work every day and went home, I would not have these associations I have here.”
Those connections include his peers, his guests and the club’s alumni. He takes pride in his association with illustrious members, whether that’s Pine or Chicago planning visionary Daniel Burnham.
He marvels at the club’s dining hall and an art collection that includes a Monet. He glows when talking about the club’s oil painting of Theodore Roosevelt that Maras hung over the desk in the president’s office in June — a painting that the club loaned to William Daley when he worked in the White House as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff.
And he smiles as he talks about the club’s impact upon him.
“I got into law, and law’s a grind,” he said. “You focus in on your law career and you forget about some of the things you really thought about and worked on and cared a lot about in your early 20s. And now I am doing a lot of the things that I care a lot about (by) helping the Union League Club with its mission.”
When his tenure ends in June, Maras plans to spend more time supporting the Boys & Girls Club while also continuing his general involvement with the club as a member and advocate.
And when the interview concluded, Maras thanked this reporter for his time and walked to another meeting.
He put in two more hours on club matters then finally, happy and tired, called it a day.