A top Artisan Partners executive died over the weekend.

Dean J. Patenaude Artisan Partners Late Executive Vice President

Chicago-based Dean J. Patenaude, Jr., known as DJ, passed away Sunday after suffering a stroke, per his obituary in the Boston Globe. He was 53 years old.

Artisan chairman and CEO Eric Colson also issued a statement. Patenaude served as executive vice president and head of global distribution at Milwaukee-based Artisan since 2009. He worked at Brinson Partners, Wellington Management, and AMG before joining Artisan.

Pensions & Investments and StreetInsider.com both reported on Patenaude's death.

"He will be greatly missed," Colson states. "Dean's accomplishments were many, and include leading our efforts to grow our primarily US client-base into the global firm we are today. More importantly though, were the many people and lives he touched, with the careers he helped shape and the mentoring he provided."

"On behalf of our executive management team and employees, we mourn his loss and extend our deepest sympathies to his family," Colson adds.

Makela Taphorn, Artisan's director of management reporting and investor relations, tells P&I that a long-term succession plan is in the works.

"We have a deep and experienced distribution leadership team, as well as significant senior management involvement with our distribution strategy," Taphorn tells the paper.

Patenaude grew up in Glastonbury, Connecticut. He and Shelley, his wife of 29 years, met at Georgetown University at the age of 19, where he was captain of the Hoyas football team. He was also an alumnus of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. His charity involvement extended to: the Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest, Illinois; the Lakeview Pantry; and the Lurie Children's Hospital.

Outside of his professional and charity work, Patenaude is remembered as a family man, an athlete (his obituary mentions golf, skiing, and the paddle court), and an oenophile, with a "disarming sense of humor."

Patenaude is survived by: his wife, Shelley; his three adult children; his parents; and his two sisters.

The funeral service is scheduled for this Saturday afternoon at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest. In lieu of flowers, Patenaude's family is directing donations to the Dean J. Patenaude, Jr. Fund at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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