"It's Friday. We're having a drink." These were the first words Michael Cudahy said to me before our lunch at the Boulevard Inn. Early Times on the rocks is the comfort of choice for this charismatic community icon, and I also gladly welcomed an afternoon Tanqueray & tonic as we sat down to talk about Milwaukee, his life, his book and more.
The Milwaukee legacy of Michael Cudahy continues to grow. At a youthful 78, the founder of Marquette Electronics has transitioned from entrepreneurship to philanthropy. Not just standard philanthropy, but big-time stuff like the Milwaukee Art Museum, IMAX, Pabst Theatre, Pier Wisconsin and hopefully the Milwaukee Connector, a new rail transportation system for greater Milwaukee.
Cudahy thinks big, lives well and his generosity, curiosity and kindness will help Milwaukee's future residents live even better. The name Cudahy is one of the most prominent in Wisconsin; Michael follows in the footsteps of this father and grandfather, John and Patrick. Both were innovative and successful and knew how to tell a good tale. Mike spins a great yarn too, and his new book "Joyworks" tells his life story and The Story of Marquette Electronics. It also shows that Cudahy's success is more about people and culture than business plans and process.
Mike Cudahy still keeps a busy schedule, meetings, lunches, fundraisers, idea generation and story telling. He still has a lifetime of ideas in his head and he gladly shared many of them with us recently. Read on for a very special "Milwaukee Talks" with Mike Cudahy.
OMC: Give us the "nut-shell" Mike Cudahy story, please.
MC: The Cudahys came from Ireland, a county called Kilkenny in 1849. There were four brothers, a sister, mother and father, father-in-law and mother-in-law. They set out to the land for a very simple reason. In Ireland at that time, you could either starve to death or leave and maybe die on the ship going over. Patrick, my grandfather, was three months old when he left, he was six months old when he got here ... and the trip wasn't exactly a 747 trip across the ocean. Sometimes we forget that today.
The Cudahys settled in Milwaukee because it is said that they had some friends here. They landed first in Boston, and the problem with Boston was (that there were) too many Irish there. So, they weren't too well liked, if I may put it that way.
This group and a Ms. Shaw (from the Shaw family of County Callan) had a little more money -- three hundred pounds -- than most because old man Shaw had a pottery business he had sold. And you know what, I can't for the life of me figure out who would have bought a pottery business right in the middle of the potato famine, but they did.
{INSERT_RELATED}Some of the group settled in Milwaukee, others in Chicago. My grandfather, Patrick, quit school at the age of 13 and went to work for a local meatpacking company by the name of Plankinton (later affiliated with the well-known Armour Packing Company of Chicago). He said 'we went into the meat packing business, because people always eat meat and it seems like a stable thing to do.' So Grandpa hooked up Mr. Plankinton and Mr. Armour.
OMC: So, where did you grow up in Milwaukee?
MC: I was born at St. Mary's Hospital about one block from where we lived on Terrace Avenue. Went to Milwaukee Country Day, sort of a snobby school (laughing). I have only one sister, who leaves in Sanibel Island. She's 81 and doing very well. She's a painting teacher still; a very neat lady. Of course, I didn't think that when we were kids.
OMC: Where did you go after Country Day School?
MC: To make a long-story short, I was asked to leave so I went off to Milwaukee University School on Hartford Avenue. I don't know all of the bad things we did, but ... Never went to college, but I did manage to finish high school. The diploma has a big stamp across it "Granted relative to the National Emergency." This means that we were at war and they made certain concessions. My concession was that I had flunked American History -- twice. I just didn't pay any attention, what a bore ... I was interested in science. This was 1942.
OMC: Did you know what you wanted to do with your life when you were in high school?
MC: No, does anyone? I did have a passion for mechanical and electrical things. I became an AM radio operator when I was 12 and living in Ireland (through a school program). In those days, you had to build everything from scratch, the transmitter and receiver. You also had to be very careful not to electrocute yourself which I almost did a couple of times. The thrill after building these radios and wondering how it could possibly work, rigging it up with the antenna and having someone answer your call on the radio was ... pow! Absolutely the most electrifying thing that had even happened to me in my life. I talked to other countries on my radio as a little kid. It was great.
As a tip to all parents, if you can find a thing to electrify your child .. do it. Try it. Let them find something, medicine, electronics, space science or whatever. This will launch your child's thinking!
OMC: You've been married four times? If I may ask, what's up with that?
MC: As to my four wives, I really don't have much to say except ... if I had it all to do over, I doubt if I'd change much. After all, I lived with #3 (Nancy) for 23 years, and I'm still living with #4, Lisa, after 16 years. And I have five terrific kids!
OMC: Give me some of your thoughts on Milwaukee of today?
MC: I have a wonderful picture of the Lakefront, circa 1955, taken from a boat, and (development along the Lake) was pretty grim. I think Milwaukeeans for way too long said, 'oh yeah, the lake, uh huh.' They really didn't pay attention to the tremendous asset that we have here. This is a part of the biggest natural fresh water area in the world, and it's right here in Milwaukee!
I am delighted with the Milwaukee Art Museum. I also am working very diligently, as you know, on a project called Pier Wisconsin.
OMC: If you could change one thing about Milwaukee today, what would it be?
MC: I would hope that we could get a whole raft of business leaders to step forward and take a lead in moving this city forward. We have been, but the lack of leadership has been reported. I think the leadership is here, but they need to continue to step forward and step up to the plate. The MMAC and Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC ) are doing OK, but where is the leadership that can mesh with the political leadership to make this city really great, like Minneapolis and Indy did!?
OMC: How would you define leadership?
MC: It's a funny word. It's stepping up to plate, being unafraid of the consequences of stating your opinion. Being a leader is gathering momentum by gathering other people to follow your idea.
OMC: How can a younger leader make this happen?
MC: There are all grades of leadership. There are not old and young, there are old, somewhat old, medium, young. This community has made a clique out of the old leadership. Old leaders are either dying out or companies being sold. That old country club gang, where is it? The young leaders seem to be isolated. We need to bring them together. UWM chancellor Nancy Zimpher has asked me to head a group of old and young and bring them together. Maybe I should do that.
OMC: How do you define success?
MC: First of all, one of the biggest deterrents to success is a lack of confidence in the individual. 'It can't be done. Oh, I'll never get there. It's too big for me. I don't know anything or enough about it. The people I know who have been really successful have just said, 'Man the torpedoes. We're going to do it, and I don't care how. I'll learn as we go.' That kind of attitude is what is needed!
There is an awful lot that we teach in school and business school saying you have to be fully trained here and there ... I'm not sure you need to be that structured!
OMC: Did you have a role model/mentor?
MC: Yes, as the book talks about a great deal. The guy that got me from a sort of a goofy kid who didn't know which direction to go to a sensible contributor to a business effort was Warren Cozzens. He was my partner the whole time I was at Marquette. He was just enough older to have some common sense.
OMC: If you could pick one person to have a drink with, who would it be and why?
MC: Tough question, Jeff. There are a lot of people I'd love to sit down and have a drink with or dinner with. Albert Einstein would be wonderful. George Bush, Sr. I did have lunch with him once. Dwight Eisenhower, I would have loved to have had some contact with that man.
OMC: Last concert you saw?
MC: Benny Green at the Pabst. He's a dear friend. I'm sort of his "godfather." He's 39 and a budding jazz musician and a really great guy.
OMC: Is jazz your passion in music?
MC: I love all types of music. I love the classics, especially after the turn of the last century. People like Igor Stravinksky. I love Stravinksky's "Rite of Spring," it's an incredible thing. He was the first to break through from the classical cords and start using 9ths and 11ths and wild harmony, I love that kind of thing. Modern ballet also excites me, it's terrific -- a wonderful art form.
OMC: What are your plans for The Pabst Theater?
MC: In a sentence, fill it up with quality acts. I think it can become a national, in fact, international icon. It has all the characteristics. It's a beautiful jewel.
OMC: Please talk about the proposed Milwaukee Connector.
MC: Milwaukee is behind the times in a lot of aspects and areas, transportation is one of them. Milwaukee also is behind the times in trying to knit the various communities around us together. You have people in Racine saying 'we are here, your are there.' Wauwatosa, Waukesha, West Bend. There are a lot of communities that say we don't want anything to do with other communities. And this, to me, is a terrible mistake. We can't have isolated communities in this region fighting against the rest of world that is doing much more dynamic things.
The Milwaukee Connector infers that the isolationism will be broken, shattered. And that's the reason for the vehement opposition of some to rail transportation options. This is not light rail, it's a guided bus system. It's a new technology. It also won't tear up the city and economic advantages are there too. It has all the advantages of rail. I am very much for it.
The business community and Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) feels we should pursue it to the next stage which is the preliminary engineering of the project. You can't tell until that's done whether or not it will work alright or not. We owe it to ourselves to do that next step. To say, 'no, no we don't what to try' is insane. And I think we have to pull these communities together and look at ourselves nationally and see where we stand. There are 18 cities across America right now who are building or planning rail or some form of high-speed transportation. Milwaukee is behind the times.
And all we seem to do around here is say, let's just add some more smelly buses. These cities are all very competitive. Come on, guys! We need to get in there and fight for our position. If we don't, we're gonna shrivel up like a prune.
OMC: Name two other things Milwaukee needs to continue moving forward.
MC: We have to do phase three of the Midwest Express Center, to be competitive nationally and fight for the big conventions. We need a champion for southeastern Wisconsin, someone who really sells the area. It's a beautiful place! People are fighting for places like West Virginia. We gotta get out there and scramble for it!
OMC: What do you do in your free time?
MC: I don't have any (he laughs). I train my dog.
OMC: And?
MC: I'm a little bit hard of hearing, you know. So the first thing someone with hearing loss does is goes and gets a hearing test and they try to fit you with a hearing aid. When your sight goes, people go to Walgreen's and get glasses. The hearing aid is a bit of an insult, so I designed an ear amp. Radio Shack has something like it in its catalog. You plug in ear phones and it amplifies sound. So, they (Radio Shack) beat me to it, but I like to tinker with things like that in my spare time.
I had the pleasure of having Walter Cronkite on my airplane recently, and he is old and can't hear too well. He hates his hearing aides, they look horrible. So, I'm sure he'd like something like the ear amp.
Michael Cudahy's book "Joyworks" was published by the Milwaukee County Historical Society and is available at the MCHS and area bookstores.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
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