George P. Gerharz

Passed away at his home in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, on August 21, 2020 at the age of 80. The cause was mesothelioma.

George was born in Joliet, Illinois, and graduated from Lemont High School in Lemont, Illinois. He was the son of George Gerharz, who worked for Union Oil, and Marian (Ludwig) who was a bookkeeper. He received his BA and MA in philosophy from Aquinas University in River Forest, Illinois, and went on to receive an MA in sociology from Marquette University and continued his studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, on a NIMH fellowship. He completed a program in marriage and family counseling at the Marriage and Family Consultation Center in Houston, Texas, in 1974.

George worked for Milwaukee's Social Development Commission (SDC) for more than 20 years, as a research specialist, a program developer, deputy director and then as the interim executive director from January 1993 through December 1994. In his work at the SDC, George was a steadfast advocate of people in poverty, working with them to create effective solutions to relieve their poverty. In his time there he worked to develop federal, state, and local coalitions and interagency cooperative efforts around such issues as food security, youth employment, welfare reform, juvenile justice, and gang diversion.

George also served as a consultant for the National Community Action Agencies in Washington, D.C, as coordinator for the Low Income Energy Coalition, as the Managing Partner of Allied Community Solutions, with Milwaukee's Council on Urban Life, and with E.J. Malek & Associates. He often consulted for nonprofits on a pro-bono basis, including the Innocence Project New Orleans.

With his lifelong friend Jack Gleason, he was a co-founder of NuToys Leisure Products, a successful playground equipment company, and served as its president from 1974-1977. During his retirement, he worked with North Division High School in Milwaukee on a jobs training program providing educational and economic resources for students to find meaningful post-graduation employment in welding and health care. He wrote Show Me the Cash, a book on strategies for engaging families to help poor children succeed. A book on poverty in the United States will be published posthumously.

George was honored by the Wisconsin Community Action Program Association in 2000 for his work on behalf of low-income people in Wisconsin. His 1990 op-ed criticizing Wisconsin's LearnFare program ran in the New York Times and syndicated to newspapers across the US.

George loved fishing (especially for walleye) with his extended family, traveling with Ro, playing golf and softball, doing the New York Times crossword puzzle, dancing at the weddings of his large extended family, and rooting for the Chicago Bears and Cubs in a house of Green Bay Packers fans.

George is survived by Rosemary (Ro) Welsh Gerharz, his wife of fifty-one years; their three sons, Joseph ( and his wife Erin McKean, of San Bruno, California), Matthew (and his wife Vanessa Villani Gerharz of Chicago, Illinois), and Barry (and his wife Tracey Patterson, of Alameda, California); their five grandchildren, Henry, Oliver, Pippa, Xavier, and Oona; and his brother Michael (of Davis, Illinois).

Before his death, he asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Innocence Project New Orleans. A memorial service is planned for Labor Day weekend 2021, near to what would have been his 82nd birthday.