Breakfast Menu -

There are no events to display

Lunch Menu -

Elementary

There are no events to display

Middle School

There are no events to display

High School

There are no events to display

Carol Ovitz Hancock

Picture of Carol Ovitz Hancock

Entrepreneur, Adventurer

Class of 1960

Born at Camp Grant in Rockford, Illinois to Dr. J.W. Ovitz, Jr. and his wife, Virginia, Carol Ovitz grew up in Sycamore and graduated from SHS in 1960. She went on to attend Smith College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Cum Laude.

Carol started her career in 1965 as a commodity broker with Mitchell, Hutchins & Co., Inc., becoming an Assistant Vice President and later becoming the first woman member of the Chicago Board of Trade in 1969! At that time the Chicago Board of Trade was the oldest and largest commodity exchange in the world. Carol became a full-time, independent trader at the CBOT in 1973.

In 1974 Carol married Gustavus (Gus) Hancock and they lived in Old Town in Chicago until 2002. During this time, with her family of Gus and two daughters, Virginia (Ginger) and Katherine, Carol became a member of the Old Town Triangle Board of Directors, the Near North Juniors Infant Welfare Society of Chicago and became a member of the Board of Trustees of The Latin School of Chicago and President of its Parents Council. She and Gus owned Paragon Die Casting Company of Chicago, a leading manufacturer of precision aluminum and zinc die castings serving mostly the automotive industry, both domestic and international. They managed the company as partners until 2002.

At the time of this writing, Carol and Gus have lived on INDIGO full-time for 13 years, sailing thousands of miles, crossing oceans and living within the cultures and religions of different nations on five of the seven continents! They’ve sailed to all of the Middle Eastern countries to New York City and then to Norfolk, Virginia, to then make a nine day 1,500 mile passage from Norfolk to the British Virgin Islands!

bordering the Mediterranean Sea and into the Suez Canal, with extensive inland travel into some countries that are now war zones and may never again be safe for Americans to travel into. No matter how much they experienced and learned by living within these different cultures and religions, Carol says they realized more and more how little they knew, as Americans, of these different cultures and religions. While the differences sometimes seem big, the similarities and human and family values are largely the same. Everyone wants peace not war, life, liberty, happiness, and better opportunities for their children. To see hordes of families fleeing their homelands to avoid bombs and assassinations is a soul searing experience according to Carol. She says we, as Americans, are very wealthy people in this regard and viewing these events have emphasized that we need to work hard to protect our country from within.

Carol and Gus plan to return to the United States in the fall of 2015. They plan to cruise the east coast of the US, possibly looking for a community in which to establish a land home. Carol still has family and friends in the Sycamore community and says it’s always a thrill to come “home” to Sycamore to visit them.

Following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, Carol and Gus decided to retire earlier than planned; they wanted to retire on their terms and not someone else’s. They sold

their manufacturing company and moved aboard their 52 foot ocean sailing yacht INDIGO full-time in 2002. They sailed east out of the Great Lakes and across New York State via the Erie Barge Canal to Albany, down the Hudson River

Congratulations Carol on your induction into the Sycamore High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame!

Mrs. Carol Ovitz Hancock – 2015 Inductee SHS Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame

  • 2015

All Inductees