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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 9/26/07 |
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Reprinted from: Green Bay Press-Gazette June 7, 2007 Community reaction on the Weidner legacy By Mike Hoeft
• Tim Quigley, who founded Bayfest and was its longtime director, said he considered Weidner a mentor.
Weidner could be considered not only the founding father of the university but of Bayfest, which raised money for UWGB scholarship funds, Quigley said.
"He would do anything to get people on campus. He was most supportive," he said. Weidner missed only one Bayfest in the 25 years it was on campus. He always sent notes with compliments and suggestions.
"I like to say he had an amazing amount of tunnel vision. He started at one end of the tunnel and wouldn't stop until he got to the other end. He was an eternal optimist," Quigley said.
• Jim Temp of Allouez, who served on a committee to help sell seat sponsors for the Weidner Center, said Weidner was a quiet leader who, when he did speak, occasionally didn't know when to stop.
"He was a bird watcher who was highly intelligent and could talk education and politics. Yet he could have a beer with you and talk football.
"His legacy? The name on the center. That says it all."
• UWGB chancellor Bruce Shepard noted Weidner's founding role in a statement issued Wednesday morning.
"We are, in so many ways, Dr. Weidner's University of Wisconsin: as the direct expression of his revolutionary vision for higher education, as the product of his tireless hard work, and, even after his retirement, as the focus of his caring, concern, and commitment," Shepard said.
• Don Harden, the former vice chancellor at UWGB and a fundraiser for the campus capital campaign and Weidner Center fund drives, said Weidner's passing is "definitely an end of an era in the life of the university."
Weidner contributed to the campus' inception and continued to do so after he retired as chancellor.
"He continued to give advice. He was a warm friend to each chancellor, who went out of his way and was exceedingly professional in doing so."
• Jackie Maas, 22, a business administrator major at UWGB, credits Weidner with helping her get into college.
Maas is the step-granddaughter of Weidner's widow, Marge.
"Ed was one of the most significant people in my life," she said.
"At the time he didn't even know me that well, but trusted Marge and wrote a letter to the college stating that he believed I could make it. I am still attending UWGB and have even received a great internship at Tufco."
Maas said she learned of Weidner's death from Lou LeCalsey, who is Tufco Technologies' president and chief executive officer.
"If it was not for Ed, I would not be where I am in life." Maas wrote.
• LeCalsey, who chairs the UWGB Council of Trustees, remembers Weidner for another reason.
"In 1968, Ed Weidner recruited me to become the first head soccer coach at UWGB. The reason I accepted the challenge of starting the UWGB men's soccer program was the fact that Ed shared with me his vision for creating Green Bay's University of Wisconsin.
"Today, we have a magnificent physical campus, a unique and distinctive interdisciplinary curriculum and learning experience and successful Division I sports. He was the driving force behind the UWGB we know today and I think that is a distinctive, enduring legacy for Ed. We were fortunate to have him as our founding chancellor, and it was my privilege to work for and know this great man."
• Tom Gabbard, former executive director of the Weidner Center, worked with Weidner on an extensive expansion project for the center.
"Ed Weidner pushed Green Bay to dream some very big dreams," said Gabbard, president of North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte, N.C.
"Northeast Wisconsin is a far better place thanks to his vision and tireless efforts to enrich its cultural and educational life."
• Though UWGB no longer books events at the Weidner Center, and the performing arts facility has seen diminished use, Weidner worked to help restore it as a member of Weidner Center Presents, the new booking entity.
"Since December of 2005, when the university decided to alter its relationship, Ed has worked tirelessly to re-awaken the full potential of the Weidner Center," said Frederick Schmidt, president of Weidner Center Presents. "He's been devoted to making sure that the Weidner Center is again the focal point of entertainment in Northeastern Wisconsin."
Weider was "very engaged in the last months," Schmidt said.
"The word that comes to mind when I think of Ed is 'visionary' because he was always thinking well beyond where everyone else was ... he had a vision for a performing arts center that at the beginning I don't think that the community understood or even thought was possible in Green Bay, Wis."
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