Hymen “Hy” Factor started his messenger service more than a half-century ago as a one-man operation from out of his station wagon at his home in the suburbs.
Chicago Messenger Service, one of the oldest and largest privately owned courier companies in the city, now employs more than 400 couriers, equipped with state-of-the-art technology and the ability to make deliveries in all 48 contiguous states. Twenty-five of those couriers still make downtown deliveries on their bikes.
“Hy was a real character and perfect for the industry he chose,” said Jerry Chez, a friend since childhood. “He had the drive and energy you need in a business like his, and people just loved him. He was fun and funny, as well as a trusted business man. He fancied himself a tough guy, but he had a heart of gold.”
Mr. Factor, 86, a former longtime resident of Morton Grove, died of cancer Friday, April 10, in his son’s home in Long Grove, his family said.
Up until last summer, Mr. Factor was still going into the office on a daily basis and making calls to customers.
“We’d get him his newspaper, coffee, a cookie and he was good to go,” said his son, Bill, who now runs the company. “He loved being there, but we loved it even more having him there with us.”
The son of Russian immigrants, Mr. Factor grew up on the West Side and was a graduate of Farragut High School.
By age 8, he was selling gardenias on a street corner and doing odd jobs around the neighborhood. In his early teens, he began working for his father, the owner of a kosher butcher shop, making deliveries on his bike.
“He was a real hustler,” his son said. “If there was money to be made and work to be done, he’d find it.”
Mr. Factor joined the Army during the Korean War and served for two years in Paris as part of a logistics team. Following his military discharge, he returned home and for several years ran his own business, HF Sales, selling a variety of merchandise — from appliances to drapes — to customers on installment payment plans.
“It was a very viable business, and he worked hard at it,” his son said.
In 1964, after getting married and starting a family, Mr. Factor opened Chicago Messenger Service, working out of his home in Morton Grove and making deliveries in his station wagon to and from downtown and the suburbs.
As the business grew, it moved into larger locations throughout the city, until moving into its current facility at 1600 S. Ashland Ave., about 30 years ago. The company delivers everything from packages filled with personal lunches to pharmaceuticals and can pick up or deliver on a moment’s notice.
About 35 years ago, Mr. Factor made all his couriers independent contractors, one of the first courier companies in the city to do so, his son said.
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An avid boater, Mr. Factor was the owner of various power boats that over the past five decades he kept moored at Burnham Harbor. His last boat, a 50-footer, was named “Chicago Messenger.”
“Hy had the best of both worlds,” Chez said. “He loved to work and he loved to play.”
Other survivors include a daughter, Randi Melnyk; stepsons, Joseph Higgins and Thomas Higgins; a stepdaughter, Maria DeFrank; a brother, Sheldon; a sister, Sandi Zelen; and eight grandchildren.
Services were held.
Giangrasse Kates is a freelance reporter.