Donald Slichter, a prominent Wisconsin business executive and civic leader, was born in Madison on July 3, 1900. Youngest of the four sons of the well-known University of Wisconsin professor of applied mathematics and graduate school dean Charles S. Slichter, Donald Slichter received a chemical engineering degree from Wisconsin in 1922. His early business experience was in engineering, but in 1929 he entered the investment field. He joined the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, one of the nation's largest insurance companies, in 1934, rising steadily in position until he was elected company president in 1958. He became Chairman of the Board in 1965 and retired shortly thereafter. He was also a corporate director of a number of Wisconsin firms. Slichter was active in various Milwaukee civic and charitable organizations. He chaired task forces studying the Milwaukee public school system and Wisconsin medical education, and held positions in the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association and other University of Wisconsin organizations. He was also the chairman of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin's History of Wisconsin Advisory Committee; his activities with that committee are well documented in the files of the Research Division of the State Historical Society.
Sumner Hubert Slichter (1892-1959), Donald Slichter's oldest brother, was a respected Harvard economist and the author of many economic theories, articles, and books.
For a history of the Slichter family see Charles Slichter's “Two Hundred Years of Pioneering,” (SC 1666) in the manuscripts collection. Additional biographical and genealogical information can be found within this collection under Personal Materials and Sumner H. Slichter Materials.
