Conrad Keith Zion

Conrad Keith Zion, 90, of Lake Bluff, Illinois, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Monday, March 6, 2023, after living with Alzheimer’s disease for a number of years. Born January 29, 1933 to Esther and Earl Zion in Phoenix, Arizona. Conrad met his loving wife, Ginny, as an undergraduate at Stanford University and married in 1955. While at Stanford, he was a member of the Delta Chi fraternity, served in the ROTC, and received his degree in Economics in 1954 and his MBA in 1956. Upon graduation, Conrad served in the United States Army as a First Lieutenant in the Army Quartermaster Corps and as a Post Exchange Officer in Alexandria, Virginia. Conrad began his career at Boeing in Bellevue, Washington, and after some additional graduate studies at Case Western Reserve and MIT in neural networks, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, to work for the American Investment Company. In 1979 he moved the family to Lake Bluff, Illinois where he joined Household Finance Company in their research department, eventually managing the Business Analysis Department at Household International. Conrad played a key role at HFC and achieved prominence in the risk management area by building an in-house risk management department, implementing automated credit bureau scorecards, installing risk management databases, and bringing neural network technology to automated decision making processes. His expertise required extensive travel to businesses throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. He had a very distinguished career and was a well known leader throughout the Consumer Credit Industry. Before his retirement in 1996, Conrad achieved an industry first by incorporating economic data into the credit evaluation process across business lines at HFC. Travel was always a large part of Conrad and Ginny's life. They took their first trip to the Orient in 1959, returning to China to celebrate their 40th anniversary in 1995. They also visited Vietnam, Cambodia, Egypt, South Africa, Japan, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, and traveled all throughout Europe. They loved spending time traveling with their family, especially taking Airstream trips out west to the Grand Canyon and annual trips to Fort DeSoto, Florida and Hilton Head Island. They continued the love of travel with their grandchildren with trips to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and time spent at their second home in Tucson, Arizona. Golf was a passion for Conrad, as he loved to play with friends and family, and to watch Tiger Woods as a proud Stanford alum. He was also a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. Beloved husband to Virginia M. Zion for over 68 years; cherished father of Derek Zion, Peter (Phronsie) Kelly-Zion and Brett (Angela) Zion and fond grandfather of Seraphina, Clara and Christopher. A memorial service will be held at 11:00 am on Monday, March 13, 2023 at The Church of the Holy Spirit, 400 E. Westminster in Lake Forest, Illinois. For information contact Reuland & Turnbough Funeral Directors of Lake Forest at 847-234-9649 or RTfunerals.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Conrad’s name may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, www.alz.org.

Conrad Keith Zion

January 29, 1933 - March 6, 2023