
| Msg # 224 of 620 on ZZUK4446, Thursday 10-29-25, 2:26 |
| From: NY.TRANSFER_NEWS@BLYTHE.O |
| To: ALL |
| Subj: Milwaukee: Socialist mayor Frank Zeidler |
[continued from previous message] No Zeidler political machine carried any clout once he was out of office; no alliance or bond melded Zeidler and the powerful in the city's public and private circles. The man who had been elected mayor three times often found only a handful of people listening to what he had to say, and almost none of that handful had any power. Zeidler and Maier were actively antagonistic at many points, and Zeidler never set foot in the mayor's office from the day he left office in 1960 until the day John O. Norquist was inaugurated in 1988. Zeidler was undeterred by the fact that his stands were often lonely. To him, politics was never just about winning; it was about principle and issues. "This was not someone who said, 'Look at me,' " historian Gurda said. "This was someone who was being a citizen." In 1976, he was the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party USA., winning 5,427 votes. Zeidler continued to live modestly, act modestly and stand actively by his beliefs. He was sought increasingly as a sage on city history. His undisputed personal integrity and the longevity that made him a living invocation of Milwaukee's past were keys to what appeared to be a revival of affection and respect for him in recent years. Zeidler became such a local institution that instead of just receiving awards, an award was named after him. In 1985, the Greater Milwaukee Conference on Religion and Urban Affairs began awarding a Frank Zeidler Award for contributions to social concerns in the religious community. James Groppi was the first winner. In 1995, the city government office building immediately east of City Hall was named the Frank Zeidler Municipal Building. Zeidler is survived by his wife, the former Agnes Reinke, whom he married in 1939. The couple had six children. Michael Zeidler, a Milwaukee Public Schools math teacher, lives in Riverwest. He said three of his sisters - Mill Road branch librarian Dorothy Zeidler; Anita Zeidler, a professor of educational psychology at UW-Milwaukee, and Clara A. Scolare - were living with their parents. He said his sister Mary Zeidler works in theater in New York City and his sister Jeanne Zeidler-Craypol, is mayor of Williamsburg, Va. Zeidler was asked in a 1975 interview with the Bugle-American, an alternative paper at that time, what he would write for his epitaph. He answered, "About all I could say is: 'He tried hard.' " [Tom Tolan and Tom Kertscher of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.] * ================================================================ NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Search Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/htdig/search.html List Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2.2 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFEseJ7HwEfpL2U00kRApaRAKC0+WUrW/Cf/G0N2ObBKNBlsWBFDQCgkkco zbrbVJD9vQrnheHQT+D4xf0= =d3NC -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2) |
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