Alumni Start Literacy Foundation
- Apr. 05, 2022
My wife, Jeanne, and I met in my sophomore year, married in my junior year, and graduated together in 1967 with two sons. Jeanne and I were the first of three generations to be able to read before we went to school, and literacy has been a boon to all three generations. Being aware that according to a national study 30 percent of all high school graduates in America cannot read above the third-grade level, and children in the lowest 40 percent economic level have no books at home, we decided to “pay it forward.” After giving $500 to the Fort Atkinson School District the first year, able to provide over 500 books to kids in summer school, we started a 501(c)3 foundation called Liberty Through Literacy and have partnered with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Now, almost 250 children in the 53538 zip code get a book mailed to them each month from birth to age 5. We also give books to kids in summer school because of reading limitations.
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David Wood Stewart MS’76, PhD’79 died on October 28, 2025, at Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community, Asheville, NC. He was 95. A native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, he was born on December 12, 1929, the son of S. Glenn and Esther Wood Stewart. In 19...
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Lenox Advisors, Inc., an affiliate of NFP, an Aon company, and a leading wealth and insurance advisory firm serving high-net-worth individuals, fam...
L. Michelle Bennett, PhD, started her career as a molecular oncologist working at the laboratory bench at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Researc...
Esther R. Schwarzbauer ’08 of Silver Spring, Maryland, is stepping away from her position as assistant theater manager of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, to join the Hippodrome Theatre and M&T Bank ...
Thomas L. Cherpes DVM’89 and Rodolfo D. Vicetti Miguel, investigators with the Ohio State University Department of Otolaryngology and Comprehensive...
Nicole Vele MS’11, JD’11, has joined GrayRobinson. as a shareholder in its Washington, DC office. A distinguished U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate Gen...
UW–Madison alumni Steve Katz ’76, MA’77 and Donna Webber MA’76, MA’77 were featured guests on the national podcast Pizza Quest, airing on September 28, 2025, hosted by bread-baking expert and author Peter Reinhart to discuss the cultural and culin...
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David Wood Stewart MS’76, PhD’79 died on October 28, 2025, at Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community, Asheville, NC. He was 95. A native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, he was born on December 12, 1929, the son of S. Glenn and Esther Wood Stewart. In 19...
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Lenox Advisors, Inc., an affiliate of NFP, an Aon company, and a leading wealth and insurance advisory firm serving high-net-worth individuals, fam...
L. Michelle Bennett, PhD, started her career as a molecular oncologist working at the laboratory bench at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Researc...
Esther R. Schwarzbauer ’08 of Silver Spring, Maryland, is stepping away from her position as assistant theater manager of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, to join the Hippodrome Theatre and M&T Bank ...
Thomas L. Cherpes DVM’89 and Rodolfo D. Vicetti Miguel, investigators with the Ohio State University Department of Otolaryngology and Comprehensive...
Nicole Vele MS’11, JD’11, has joined GrayRobinson. as a shareholder in its Washington, DC office. A distinguished U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate Gen...
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