Thomas M. Enright, who died Jan. 27 of bone cancer at 72, was remembered by former colleagues and municipal professionals for his banking industry knowledge and loyal client base.
Enright held various fiscal positions with local Michigan governments before beginning a nearly 30-year investment banking career. He retired in 2016 from Hilliard Lyons where he was a senior vice president in public finance.
Thomas M. Enright
“The Municipal Advisory Council of Michigan team had the highest regard for Tom and enjoyed working with him on all his transactions,” said Alfred Diebel, executive director of the council. “In an age of fiduciary directives cast into law, Tom was already the consummate public finance banker and role model consistently placing issuers’ interests first. He was always friendly and we enjoyed his phone calls. The entire staff was terribly saddened to learn of his passing and we miss him.”
Enright began his banking career in 1989 as an investment banker with Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Enright left the firm in 2009 to become a senior vice president at Raymond James & Associates and then moved to Leonard Capital Markets where he was a managing director. In 2010, he joined Great Lakes Capital Markets LLC where he was a managing director. He later joined Hilliard Lyons.
Enright worked on financings for hundreds of public projects in Michigan during his career.
Jack Brusewitz, a senior sales executive at NORESCO Energy Solutions, fondly recalled his years of working with Enright at Hilliard, Oppenheimer and Leonard Capital Markets.
“He was just a pleasure to work with all of the time. He had a great knowledge of the industry and he had a great knowledge of people and really he treated people with the utmost respect,” Brusewitz said. “He had an extremely loyal client base. His clients truly loved and they were extremely loyal to him.”
Alexander Rorke, senior managing director at Hilliard’s municipal securities group, said Enright will be missed at the firm.
“Tom was a helpful member of the Hilliard Lyons team and he was loved and respected by his clients and his colleagues,” Rorke said.
“I had the pleasure of working for Tom while we were at Oppenheimer & Co. Tom served as a great mentor, particularly on county financings,” Kelly Lambrix, vice president at U.S. Bank, said on the tribute page to Enright. “He was well liked by everyone since he was warm and friendly to all. He will be greatly missed by those of us that had the pleasure of working with him.”
Bill Roche, a senior vice president at Hutchinson, Shockley, Erley & Co., worked with Enright for most of his career in public finance banking first at Oppenheimer and later at Raymond James.
“Tom was a really interesting guy and probably the most laid back person I ever worked with,” Roche said.
In 1973, Enright was elected treasurer of the city of Ecorse. In 1974 he became the controller for the city.
Four years later Enright became the controller for the Baraga County where he managed the Department of Public Works. In 1981, he became controller of Baraga County Hospital, where he was responsible for all accounting functions of the hospital and helped oversee their conversion from manual to computerized accounting systems.
Enright returned to Ecorse in 1983, where he again became the controller for the city until 1987.
Enright received a bachelor’s degree in management from Eastern Michigan University.
Visitation will be held for Enright on Feb. 2 and 3 at the Molnar Funeral Homes in Wyandotte, Michigan. A mass will be held on Feb.4 at St. Andre Bessette Catholic Church.
Enright is survived by his wife, Pamela Enright, two children, Nicholas Enright and Nathaniel (Kimberly) Enright and grandchildren Sabrina, Evelyn and Simon.