Marianne: homemaker and philanthropist
Sheldon: Founder and Chairman, Lubar & Co.
UW Majors: Business Administration, Law
Throughout their seven decades together, Sheldon and Marianne Lubar have left their mark on Wisconsin’s cultural and civic landscape — from libraries and museums to arts organizations and public policy initiatives. Their philanthropy also reflects their belief that strong public universities create opportunity not only for individual students, but for the state as a whole — a perspective shaped by their own experiences at UW–Madison.
The couple met on campus shortly after Marianne arrived from Kenosha. The 17-year-old freshman was living in the same private residence hall where Shel, who grew up in Whitefish Bay, was working in the dining facilities. The two soon began dating and married in 1952, while Marianne continued her undergraduate studies and Shel completed his law degree.
“The UW has been a huge influence in my life,” Shel said in a previous interview with the Wisconsin Alumni Association. “It’s nothing in particular that I learned there — it was everything about the experience. It made it possible for me to do all the things I’ve wanted to do.”
The Lubars soon returned to southeastern Wisconsin, where they raised four children and established deep roots in the Milwaukee community. Shel began his career at Marine National Exchange Bank, then took a leading role arranging venture capital investments for Marine Corporation. During the following decades, he earned a national reputation in finance and economic policy through business leadership and federal service under Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter. In 1973, Nixon appointed him assistant secretary for housing production and mortgage credit at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he also served as commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration and director of the Federal National Mortgage Association. Closer to home, he advised multiple Wisconsin governors and held leadership roles on numerous boards and commissions.
By the late 1970s, Shel had founded Lubar & Co., the private investment firm he still chairs today. As the company grew, so did the couple’s commitment to investing in Wisconsin’s future. “Education has always been at the forefront,” Marianne says. “We’ve always believed in stepping in and contributing to things that matter.”
At UW–Madison, that commitment has taken many forms, from support for business, law, computer sciences, and religious studies to investments in faculty excellence, research, and long-term institutional growth. Shel also championed higher education through leadership and advocacy, serving nine years on the UW System Board of Regents, including a term as president in 1997–98, and on the UW Foundation board.
In 2005, amid growing tensions and conflict involving Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities around the world, Shel and Marianne helped establish the Lubar Institute for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions at UW–Madison to encourage dialogue and scholarship across the three faiths.
Other gifts focused on expanding UW–Madison’s long-term academic and research capacity. In 2007, the family contributed $5 million to the Wisconsin Naming Partnership at the Wisconsin School of Business, helping preserve the school’s identity while aiding its continuing growth. They later established the Sheldon B. Lubar Distinguished Research Chair in Law, a rotating position designed to recognize exceptional legal scholarship across a variety of fields.
In 2015, the Lubars made another major investment in UW–Madison with a $7 million gift to the Department of Computer Sciences during a period of rapidly increasing enrollment and demand. The gift funded endowed chairs, professorships, and other strategic initiatives intended to help the department remain competitive and attract top faculty and students.
The couple’s influence has also had a major impact at UW–Milwaukee and throughout Milwaukee’s civic and cultural community. While Shel became known for business and public policy leadership, Marianne became a driving force behind several of Milwaukee’s arts, library, and educational institutions, such as the Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee Art Museum, Jewish Museum Milwaukee, Florentine Opera, and UW–Milwaukee’s Golda Meir Library. In 2013, UW–Milwaukee recognized Marianne’s long-standing civic and cultural leadership with an honorary doctor of leadership in the arts degree.
Together, Shel and Marianne have supported organizations including the Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and Marquette University Law School’s Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education. At UW–Milwaukee, the couple made a landmark gift of more than $10 million to the business school for scholarships and professorships, helping shape what is now the Lubar College of Business. Shel has remained actively involved with the college for decades through its Business Advisory Council.
For more than half a century, the Lubars have invested in Wisconsin with an eye toward the future — championing the people, organizations, and communities that will shape the state for generations to come.
