Well known Chicago mortgage banker, Al Hanna, passes away

Al Hanna

Chicago mortgage banker, Albert C. Hanna, passed away on April 16, 2020. He was 89.

Hanna founded Mid-North Financial Services, Inc. in 1982, serving as owner, president and CEO of the $1.3 billion mortgage banking firm for 22 years. In 2004, he merged his firm into the privately held real estate firm, Draper and Kramer, Inc., from which he retired in 2014.

The Chicago Mortgage Bankers Association voted Hanna Man of the Year In 1997 and in 2003, he was the first mortgage banker elected to the Chicago Association of Realtors Hall of Fame. The  and City Council of Chicago also formally recognized Hanna as a “visionary leader,” a first among mortgage bankers.

Hanna graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and entered the U.S. Army upon graduation. He served during the Korean War, operating within a Military Intelligence Company headquartered in Seoul.

Hanna and his wife, Chris Hanna, founded the Tesomas Alumni Camping Trust and the Al and Chris Hanna Eagle Scout Scholarship Foundation in support of the Boy Scouts of Amercia (BSA). They further funded construction of the Hanna Venture Base to serve Samoset Scouting. In 2002, the BSA honored Hanna as a distinguished Eagle Scout.

An avid traveler and outdoorsman, Hanna cycled, canoed, climbed and hiked through 65 countries. He reached the top of six of the Seven Summits—the tallest mountains on each continent. In 2000, at age 70 and on his third attempt, Hanna came within 330 feet of summiting Everest, the seventh and final summit.