Coincidences

Thirty years ago today, the Arthur M. Anderson lost contact with the doomed SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which was damaged in a storm and soon sank with all its crew near the eastern end of Lake Superior. In WGN's Weather Center Blog, Chicago weatherman Tom Skilling posted an entry late last night about the Edmund Fitzgerald's sinking. Tom Skilling's brother is Jeff Skilling, former CEO of Enron. While Enron was cooking the books, the firm that was auditing their finances was the Chicago accounting firm Arthur Andersen -- no relation to Arthur M. Anderson. The freighter Arthur M. Anderson is, as far as I know, still afloat. Arthur Andersen the accounting firm sank in the summer of 2002.

Speaking of CEOs, the Edmund Fitzgerald was named after a former CEO of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance of Milwaukee, WI. Edmund Fitzgerald was apparently no relation of former U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL), a strong critic of Enron, or of federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who was recommended to his post by Peter Fitzgerald. Peter and Patrick? -- not related.