Nathan Daniel Rader

We honor the passing of Nate Rader (51), who left us in the early hours of August 9th, after experiencing a devasting stroke on July 13th.

Nate was preceded in death by his father, Dan Rader, and numerous other family members including both sets of grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. He leaves behind a grieving family, including a heart-broken mother Luann (76), two proud sons Julian (18) and Henry (16), an ex-wife Monique (49), Brother Ben (48) and wife Melissa (49), Sister Amanda (46), Brother David (38) and wife Bethany (38), five adoring nieces, Sydney (19), Olive (16), Nova (10), Freya (7), and Isla (4), an affectionate nephew, Solomon (14), and bewildered dog, Tully (5?). He also leaves behind innumerable friends and community members that crowded into the NICU and hospice facility these past weeks, and showed their support in broad and touching ways, holding up a struggling family, and regaling them with touching, funny, and inspiring tales of a life well lived.

Nate was known throughout the Milwaukee area for his work as a contractor with an artistic eye and preference for higher skill restoration. He did work on commercial, retail, and residential projects. His work was known and well regarded. However, his true art was in the art of living.

Nate was a proud father and doting uncle. He was a committed and nurturing care provider for his two boys, encouraging them to develop their unique and distinctive interests and identities. He maintained a singular and unwavering investment in them and their best interests and was selfless in the care he showed them.

Nate's warmth and humor were always most evident when in the company of children, who naturally took to Nate like a kindred spirit. Playful and goofy, his kind attention was known immediately to his five nieces and one nephew. Nate was always the "favorite uncle" to his siblings' children when young, and clear and distinctive, if unlikely, role model to them as they grew older.

Throughout his life, Nate left an indelible imprint upon his family, modeling a life of uncompromising commitment to what is right, even when not popular. He lived undeterred by provincial standards. He was disdainful of self-promoting social posturing. Nate held a genuine and committed interest in the rights and concerns of others, which was evident in how he treated people. This, in turn, shaped the values of his entire family.

Nate's siblings were also influenced greatly by his broad and particular interests in a varied range of areas including music, art, activism, politics, movies, books, social history, pop culture, sub-culture, counterculture, and Culture Club. Whatever Nate was interested in, it left its mark on them.

Throughout his father's illness and after his eventual passing, Nate became singularly focused on supporting his mother, helping to manage family affairs and relocate her to be nearer to her adult children and grandchildren in the Milwaukee area. Although critical of people's grandstanding around Family Values, Nate truly valued family, and would stop what he was doing to be of service to his family. He also showed a similar fidelity to friends and acquaintances in need.

Nate was known and warmly regarded in the Milwaukee area with inroads into Milwaukee's music scene. He was a founding force and organizer of Strummerfest, hosting dozens of bands in the annual show commemorating the music of Joe Strummer and the Clash. His interest in Punk rock and independent music along with his appreciation for the do-it-yourself etiquette, put him elbow to elbow with the area musicians and creative types. He became known and well regarded by people in the music scene and had a knowledge of local music as impressive of as encyclopedic understanding of the American and British scenes.

Nate was a regular patron of Bay View bars and establishments where his unassuming and cool outward disposition was betrayed by his underlying warmth and concern for others. Always ready with an open ear, Nate was a vested and reliable confidant who made people instantly feel heard and seen.

However, Nate's aloof and neutral airs could never be mistaken for a dispassionate investment in what was going on around him. On more than one occasion, Nate would make his quiet presence known, standing up for others and confronting racism, bigotry, and misogynism, to the point of physically accompanying offenders out the door by the arm when their behavior crossed the line. In recent years, he ended up assuming the role of tavern century at the Foggy Dew, keeping watch at the door and intervening when necessary. The Foggy Dew community took Nate on as family, with this becoming a second home to him over the years.

After spending his formative years in Mayville Wisconsin, Nate attended Middle School in West Bend prior to graduating from West Bend West. Following graduation, Nate was an undeniable rapscallion, getting into mischief in Oshkosh and later taking courses at University of Milwaukee. During these years, Nate made innumerable friends, went to countless shows, got turned on to anthropology, put carrots in toilets, and when he felt compelled to, went to classes. Nate's experience in college underscored his lifelong interest in learning, and learning for learning's sake. For a period time, Nate worked in the MPS school system, where his love for learning and children converged in a short-lived position as a teaching assistant. However, this was cut short by state politics.

To hear Nate's closest friends and family speak of him paints the clearest picture of who he was and why he will be so missed. Stories of his whit, provocation, and kindness, will continue alongside those of his two-footed driving technique, his mastery of barroom trivia, and almost religious reverence for the original Star Wars films.

Nate was an example of exactly what the world needs at this time in history. A raw, honest, and beautiful force of nature, unrelenting in his commitment to the intangibles he lived by, and always looking out for others. Now, we will need to live on without him, in the way he modeled. We loved him dearly.