Bill Englebrecht, former chairman of the University of Illinois board of trustees, will speak about his book, "The American Banker in Paris," which chronicles the remarkable life of Nelson Dean Jay of Elmwood, Illinois.

Nelson Dean Jay was raised in Elmwood, Illinois, twenty miles west of Peoria and graduated from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. He started out selling pots and pans door-to-door and would go on to become one of the influential figures in World War I, Paris in the twenties, the Great Depression, World War II and the Cold War.

For half a century, Paris was the home of Nelson Dean Jay, who had been recruited by J.P. Morgan to expand the European operations of his bank. The life and story of Nelson Dean Jay is one of humility, dignity, service and intrigue.

During the Roaring Twenties in Paris, he was a friend of Ernest Hemingway, Coco Chanel, and Gertrude Stein. Jay was described in the New York Times as "one of the most civilized and authentic Americans in Paris."