Lifetime Achievement Award

Cudahy commits to Milwaukee’s future

Michael Cudahy Chairman of Discovery World in Milwaukee and president of The Endeavors Group LLC, Milwaukee

When Michael Cudahy sets his sights on a project, Milwaukee knows to expect good things.

He lends his support and drive to many of the city’s most well-known organizations, like the Milwaukee Public Museum, Marquette University, the Milwaukee School of Engineering, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Discovery World Museum.

Recently, he turned his focus toward the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the UWM Innovation Park, a public-private partnership that would put an engineering campus near the Medical College of Wisconsin on the Milwaukee County Grounds in Wauwatosa.

Carlos Santiago, UW-Milwaukee’s chancellor, said Cudahy’s support of the 82-acre project is critical.

“I think he understands better than anyone else what we’re trying to do,” Santiago said.

The project will put biomedical engineering and automation next to the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Blood Research Institute, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital.

“It complements the work of those organizations,” Santiago said. “It would also be an incubator for business development.”

The two first met in Albany, N.Y., where Cudahy saw a facility that did the same kind of thing with nanotechnology. Santiago said Cudahy immediately recognized the potential of that kind of development.

Cudahy has remained committed to the project, Santiago said, and has publicly expressed his support and interest in the development, including addressing the UW System Board of Regents.

“Just his stature in the community has been critical in getting public officials to support [Innovation Park],” Santiago said. “I view Mike as a real asset in what we’re trying to develop. When Mike speaks, people listen.”

Dedication to the causes Cudahy believes in is nothing new, said longtime friend Fred Luber, chairman of Super Steel Corp., Milwaukee.

Cudahy’s desire to give back has been there for a long time, he said.

“He’s done so many things,” Luber said. “He’s given all kinds of donations to all kinds of things. He’s probably one of the best philanthropists in town.”

What makes his good works even more meaningful, Luber said, is where Cudahy’s money came from.

“It’s not inherited money,” he said. “It’s all his money.”

The sale of Cudahy’s company, Mar-quette Electronics, to General Electric gave him the capital that he now spreads throughout the community.

“He normally invests more heavily in things that he’s involved with instead of just passing his money out to the world,” Luber said. “He likes to build things and make Milwaukee better.”

Luber said that when Cudahy found himself with “more money than he can spend in his lifetime,” he started looking for ways to use it to make things better.

“You’ve got your choice of children, taxes or charity,” Luber said. “I think he’s taken care of his children. If you choose between taxes or charity, it comes down on charity, doesn’t it?”

Luber said he doesn’t expect Cudahy’s vision for giving back to Milwaukee to end any time soon.

“He has more projects up his sleeve,” Luber said. “If not, he’ll find one. He’s a very unusual and gifted person.

“There aren’t many people of his age who are as proactive as he is and so interested as he is in making things better for the future. I wish more people were like him.”

By Janine Anderson